Initiating a conference call via radio frequency beacons

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and modes are disclosed for initiating a conference call on a conferencing endpoint from a portable electronic device. The system comprises a conferencing endpoint associated with a network address and configured for receiving conferencing information and using said conferencing information to dial a conference call. The system also comprises a portable electronic device comprising a network interface configured for enabling communication between the portable electronic device and the conferencing endpoint. The portable electronic device pairs with the conferencing endpoint using the conferencing endpoint network address. The portable electronic device transmits dialing or conferencing information to the conferencing endpoint by accessing a calendar application, accessing a scheduled meeting event associated with the calendar application, retrieving conferencing information associated with the scheduled meeting event, and transmitting the conferencing information to the conferencing endpoint.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to control networks, more specifically tocontrol networks leveraging radio frequency communication standards,such as near field communication standards and Bluetooth Low Energystandards, for initiating conference calls.

2. Background Art

Company personnel are increasingly using audio and video conferencingsystems for daily communication. In corporate settings today, conferencerooms are equipped with high quality audiovisual devices to enable audioor video conference calls. Dialing these calls can prove to be afrustrating experience where a user must enter a long string of numbersor letters into the system, such as an audio conference bridge numberand passcode, a lengthy Internet Protocol (IP) address, or a UniformResource Identifier (URI) scheme for the Session Initiation Protocol(SIP). Typically, a user opens a calendar invitation or an electronicmail to look up the dialing information and manually types thatinformation into a phone or a conference system.

Some systems provide address books stored on the conference endpointequipment to simplify the dialing instructions. The address books storeconferencing information, such as phone numbers, IP addresses, andnetwork communication protocols. In companies with hundreds or thousandsof employees that regularly conduct conference calls, such address booksmay be difficult to navigate in order to locate the desired conferencecall to dial. Also, since address books must be pre-populated withdialing information, they cannot be used to call users not listed in theaddress books. Other systems look at a room calendar to determine how todial the call. However, these systems require the user to book the roomahead of time in order for the information to get to the equipment. Assuch, users desire a less burdensome system and method for dialingconference calls.

As portable electronic devices became readily available, corporatepersonnel are issued corporate portable electronic devices through whichthey can be readily accessible. The portable electronic devices aregenerally equipped with a calendar application for scheduling meetings,including conference calls. At the approach of a scheduled conferencecall, the calendar application prompts the user of the upcomingconference call and allows the user to dial the conference call usingthe portable electronic device directly from the scheduled meetingnotice. Yet, there is no convenient way for the user to dial theconference call using the high quality audiovisual conferencingequipment installed in a conference room. As such, users desire aone-touch solution for dialing conference calls via the conferencingequipment installed in a conference room.

The ever-expanding reach of smart portable devices has recently extendedto building automation. Smart phones and tablets are increasinglyproviding convenient and varied control options for residential andcommercial buildings. While the introduction of smart portable devicesto home automation has had a noticeable positive impact, existingsystems do not fully leverage the capabilities of current generationsmart phones and tablets. One such capability is short rangecommunication technologies such as near field communication (NFC) orBluetooth.

NFC is a set of standards for short-range wireless communicationtechnology that employs magnetic field induction to enable communicationbetween electronic devices in close proximity. The technology allows anNFC-enabled device to communicate with another NFC-enabled device or toretrieve information from an NFC tag. This enables users to performintuitive, safe, contactless transactions, access digital content andconnect electronic devices simply by touching or bringing devices intoclose proximity.

NFC operates in the standard unlicensed 13.56 MHz frequency band over arange of around 2-4 cm and offers data rates in the range of at least106 kbits/s to 424 kbit/s. NFC standards cover communication protocolsand data exchange formats and are based on existing radio frequencyidentification (RFID) standards. The standards include ISO/IEC 18092 andthose defined by the NFC Forum, a non-profit industry organization whichpromotes NFC and certifies device compliance. There are two modes ofoperation covered by the NFC standards: active and passive. In activemode, both communicating devices are capable of transmitting data. Eachdevice alternately generates and deactivates their own electromagneticfield to transmit and receive data. In passive mode, only one device,the initiator devices, generates an electromagnetic field, while thetarget device, typically an NFC tag, modulates the electromagnetic fieldto transfer data. The NFC protocol specifies that the initiating deviceis responsible for generating the electromagnetic field. In this mode,the target device may draw its operating power from theinitiator-provided electromagnetic field.

Bluetooth is a set of specifications for common short range wirelessapplications. They are written, tested & maintained by the BluetoothSIG. The Bluetooth Low Energy technology was introduced in the BluetoothCore Specification version 4.0, enabling devices that can operate formonths or even years on coin-cell batteries.

Bluetooth Low Energy operates in the same spectrum range (2402-2480 MHz)as the “classic” Bluetooth technology, but uses a different set ofchannels. Instead of Bluetooth technology's seventy-nine 1 MHz widechannels, Bluetooth Low Energy has forty 2 MHz wide channels.Additionally, Bluetooth Low Energy technology uses a different frequencyhopping scheme than prior Bluetooth technology. These improvements makeBluetooth Low Energy ideally suited for discrete data transfer asopposed to streaming as in previous Bluetooth technologies.

There is now a need to fully leverage the short range communicationcapabilities of smart portable devices, such as smart phones andtablets, to provide more robust conferencing systems. Accordingly, aneed has arisen for systems, methods, and modes that provide quick andsimple pairing of user's portable electronic devices with a meeting roomconferencing system and providing users with a one-touch solution todial a conference call through the meeting room conferencing equipmentvia their portable electronic devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the embodiments to substantially solve at least theproblems and/or disadvantages discussed above, and to provide at leastone or more of the advantages described below.

It is therefore a general aspect of the embodiments to provide systems,methods, and modes for initiating a conference call from a user'sportable electronic device via one or more radio frequency beacons.

It is further an aspect of the embodiment to provide systems, methods,and modes for enabling an enterprise end user to utilize the user'sportable electronic device to connect to, utilize, and controlconferencing devices or equipment, such as a conferencing endpoint,located within a meeting room.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Further features and advantages of the aspects of the embodiments, aswell as the structure and operation of the various embodiments, aredescribed in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.It is noted that the aspects of the embodiments are not limited to thespecific embodiments described herein. Such embodiments are presentedherein for illustrative purposes only. Additional embodiments will beapparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on theteachings contained herein.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

According to one aspect of the embodiments, a system is provided forinitiating a conference call on a conferencing endpoint from a portableelectronic device. The system comprises a conferencing endpointassociated with a network address and configured for receivingconferencing information and using said conferencing information to diala conference call. The system also comprises a portable electronicdevice associated with a user ID and comprising a network interfaceconfigured for enabling communication between the portable electronicdevice and the conferencing endpoint, a display, a memory encoding oneor more processor-executable instructions, and a processor configured toload the one or more processor-executable instructions. The one or moreprocessor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, causeacts to be performed comprising: (i) pairing with the conferencingendpoint using the conferencing endpoint network address, (ii) accessinga calendar application, (iii) accessing a scheduled meeting eventassociated with the calendar application, (iv) retrieving conferencinginformation associated with the scheduled meeting event, and (v)transmitting the conferencing information to the conferencing endpoint.

The conference call may comprise audio, video, or a combination thereof.The conferencing information may comprise an audio conference bridgenumber, a passcode, a phone number, an IP address, a username of a voiceover IP system, a meeting URL, a network communication protocol, a SIPURI, an ID for a VMR, or any combinations thereof. The portableelectronic device may comprise a laptop computer, a smartphone, or atablet. The accessed scheduled meeting event may be stored on theportable electronic device or on a remote server.

According to some aspects of the embodiments, the conferencinginformation may be retrieved from the scheduled meeting event byscanning data fields of the scheduled meeting event. The data fields maybe scanned using predetermined regular expression (REGEX) search patternstrings. The data fields may comprise a meeting organizer field, ameeting attendees field, a subject field, a title, a description, alocation field, a date field, a start time field, an end time field, ameeting body field, a notes field, an attachment field, a contactsfield, and a conferencing information field.

According to an aspect of the embodiments, the one or moreprocessor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performedcomprising: selecting the scheduled meeting event. The scheduled meetingevent may be selected by identifying a scheduled meeting event thatcorresponds to a current date and time of day. In another embodiment,the scheduled meeting event may be selected by displaying a userinterface comprising a list of scheduled meeting events and a meetingevent selection configured for receiving a selection of a scheduledmeeting event. According to additional aspects of the embodiments, theone or more processor-executable instructions cause further acts to beperformed comprising: (i) retrieving conferencing information associatedwith each scheduled meeting event in the list of scheduled meetingevents, (ii) identifying connection types for the retrieved conferencinginformation of the list of scheduled meeting events, and (iii) for eachscheduled meeting event in the list of scheduled meeting events,displaying an icon configured for identifying the identified connectiontype.

According to an aspect of the embodiments, the one or moreprocessor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performedcomprising: selecting the conferencing information. The conferencinginformation may be selected by: identifying a connection type supportedby the conferencing endpoint, and selecting the conferencing informationthat corresponds to the connection type supported by the conferencingendpoint. When a plurality of connection types are identified supportedby the conferencing endpoint, and when the conferencing informationcomprises conferencing information for multiple connection types, theconferencing information may be selected with a fastest connectionspeed. In another embodiment, when a plurality of connection types areidentified supported by the conferencing endpoint, and when theconferencing information comprises conferencing information for multipleconnection types, the conferencing information may be selected based ona stored ranking table.

According to an aspect of the embodiments, the one or moreprocessor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performedcomprising: (i) receiving call status information from the conferencingendpoint, and (ii) displaying a user interface on the display of theportable electronic device comprising the call status information.According to another aspect of the embodiments, the one or moreprocessor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performedcomprising transmitting a control command to the conferencing endpointconfigured for controlling an operation of the conferencing endpoint.The control command may comprise a start conference call command, an endconference call command, a volume command, or a mute command.

According to an aspect of the embodiments, the system further comprisesone or more RF beacons each associated with a conferencing endpoint andconfigured for broadcasting information comprising an applicationidentifier. The portable electronic device may be paired with theconferencing endpoint by: (i) receiving from at least one of the one ormore RF beacons the broadcasted information including the applicationidentifier, (ii) transmitting the broadcasted information to anapplication associated with the application identifier, (iii) estimatinga distance to the at least one of the one or more RF beacons accordingto a detected signal strength of the RF beacon broadcast, (iv)determining a location of the portable electronic device based on thedistance to the at least one of the one or more RF beacons, (v)identifying the conferencing endpoint network address based on thedetermined location, and (vi) pairing with the conferencing endpointusing the identified conferencing endpoint network address. Eachconferencing endpoint network address may comprise an IP address, an URIaddress, an URL address, a host name, or any combination thereof. Eachof the one or more RF beacons may be configured for broadcasting theinformation according to Bluetooth protocol or an NFC protocol.

In one embodiment, the broadcasted information of each of the one ormore RF beacons may comprise a network address of the conferencingendpoint associated with a respective RF beacon. The location of theportable electronic device may be determined by identifying a nearest RFbeacon by comparing the detected signal strengths of the at least one ofthe one or more RF beacons and identifying the strongest receivedsignal, and the conferencing endpoint network address may be identifiedby identifying the conferencing endpoint network address received fromthe nearest RF beacon. According to an embodiment, when the portableelectronic device receives broadcasted information from only a single RFbeacon, the portable electronic device pairs with a conferencingendpoint associated with the single RF beacon.

In another embodiment, the broadcasted information of each of the one ormore RF beacons may comprise a beacon ID, wherein each beacon ID isassociated with a conferencing endpoint network address. The location ofthe portable electronic device may be determined by identifying anearest RF beacon by comparing the detected signal strengths of the atleast one of the one or more RF beacons and identifying the strongestreceived signal, and the conferencing endpoint network address may beidentified by identifying the conferencing endpoint network addressassociated with a beacon ID received from the nearest RF beacon. Theassociation between each beacon ID and conferencing endpoint networkaddress may be stored in the memory of the portable electronic device.In an alternative embodiment, the association between each beacon ID andconferencing endpoint network address may be stored on a remote server,and the conferencing endpoint network address may be identified byquerying the remote server with a beacon ID received from the nearest RFbeacon to identify an associated network address of a conferencingendpoint.

According to another embodiment, the location of the portable electronicdevice may be determined via trilateration. Specifically, the locationof the portable electronic device may be determined by: (i) determininglocation coordinates of the portable electronic device viatrilateration, (ii) mapping the location coordinates on a floor plan,and (iii) identifying an area in which the portable electronic device islocated. The floor plan may be stored in the memory of the portableelectronic device or a remote server. The system may further compriseone or more area records each associated with an area and comprising anetwork address of a conferencing endpoint installed in the area. Theone or more area records may be stored in the memory of the portableelectronic device or a remote server.

According to an embodiment, the one or more processor-executableinstructions cause further acts to be performed comprising: (i)receiving from a remote server a schedule of the determined location ofthe portable electronic device, (ii) identifying a scheduled meetingevent that corresponds to a current date and time of day, (iii)accessing a list of meeting participants for the identified scheduledmeeting event, (iv) determining whether the user ID matches a user ID inthe list of meeting participants, (v) upon finding a match, pairing theportable electronic device with the conferencing endpoint, and (vi) uponnot finding a match, preventing the portable electronic device to pairwith the conferencing endpoint. According to another embodiment, the oneor more processor-executable instructions cause further acts to beperformed comprising: determining an access level of the user ID to thepaired conferencing endpoint, wherein the access level comprises rulesthat restrict communication between the portable electronic device andthe paired conferencing endpoint.

According to an embodiment, the one or more processor-executableinstructions cause further acts to be performed comprising: (i)receiving from a remote server a schedule of the determined location ofthe portable electronic device; and (ii) when a status indicator for thelocation is vacant for a current date and time of day, designating thestatus indicator for the location as booked after pairing the portableelectronic device with the conferencing endpoint. The user may beprompted to indicate a length of time period the user wishes to use thelocation.

According to another aspect of the embodiments, a system is provided forinitiating a conference call on a conferencing endpoint from a portableelectronic device. The system comprises a conferencing endpointassociated with a network address and configured for receivingconferencing information and using said conferencing information to diala conference call. The system also comprises one or more RF beacons eachassociated with a conferencing endpoint and configured for broadcastinginformation comprising an application identifier. The system furthercomprises a portable electronic device associated with a user ID andcomprising at least one network interface configured for enablingcommunication between the portable electronic device and the one or moreRF beacons and between the portable electronic device and theconferencing endpoint, a display, a memory encoding one or moreprocessor-executable instructions, and a processor configured to loadthe one or more processor-executable instructions. The one or moreprocessor-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, causeacts to be performed comprising: (i) receiving from at least one of theone or more RF beacons the broadcasted information including theapplication identifier, (ii) transmitting the broadcasted information toan application associated with the application identifier, (iii)estimating a distance to the at least one of the one or more RF beaconsaccording to a detected signal strength of the RF beacon broadcast, (iv)determining a location of the portable electronic device based on thedistance to the at least one of the one or more RF beacons, (v)identifying the conferencing endpoint network address based on thedetermined location, (vi) pairing with the conferencing endpoint usingthe conferencing endpoint network address, (vii) accessing a calendarapplication, (viii) selecting a scheduled meeting event associated withthe calendar application, (ix) accessing the scheduled meeting event,(x) scanning data fields of the scheduled meeting event, (xi) retrievingconferencing information associated with the scheduled meeting event,and (xii) transmitting the conferencing information to the conferencingendpoint.

According to another aspect of the embodiments, a method is provided forinitiating a conference call on a conferencing endpoint from a portableelectronic device comprising: (i) pairing a portable electronic devicewith a conferencing endpoint using a conferencing endpoint networkaddress, (ii) accessing a calendar application, (iii) accessing ascheduled meeting event associated with the calendar application, (iv)retrieving conferencing information associated with the scheduledmeeting event, and (v) transmitting the conferencing information to theconferencing endpoint for dialing a conference call.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and features of the embodiments will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe embodiments with reference to the following figures. Differentaspects of the embodiments are illustrated in reference figures of thedrawings. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosedherein are to be considered to be illustrative rather than limiting. Thecomponents in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, emphasisinstead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of theaspects of the embodiments. In the drawings, like reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for managing a conference room schedule inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the portable electronic device of FIG. 1 inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a near field communication tag employed inthe system of FIG. 1 in accordance with an illustrative embodiment ofthe invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of a plurality of softwareengines and data storage areas for a scheduling application inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram depicting a main screen page 500 of thescheduling application for a system of managing a conference roomschedule, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram depicting a preferences page of thescheduling application for a system of managing a conference roomschedule, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram depicting a schedule page of thescheduling application for a system of managing a conference roomschedule, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram depicting an information pop-up screen ofthe scheduling application for non-meeting organizers, in accordancewith an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram depicting an information pop-up screen ofthe scheduling application for meeting organizers, in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram depicting general information schedulingtab of the scheduling application, in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram depicting a presets tab of the schedulingapplication for a discussion, in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram depicting a presets tab of the schedulingapplication for a presentation, in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram depicting a presets tab of the schedulingapplication for an audio call, in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram depicting a presets tab of the schedulingapplication for a video call, in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram depicting a presets tab of the schedulingapplication for an audio and video call, in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram depicting a people tab of the schedulingapplication, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing steps for performing a method ofaccessing a conference room schedule, in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system for managing aconference room schedule via communication with an RF beacon, inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 19 shows a schematic of a facility with a plurality of rooms, eachcomprising an RF beacon, according to an illustrative embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing steps for performing a method managing aconference room schedule via communication with an RF beacon, accordingto an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing steps for performing a method formanaging a conference room schedule via communication with an RF beacon,according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 22A is a portion of a flowchart showing steps for performing amethod of accessing a conference room schedule, in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 22B is a portion of flowchart showing steps for performing a methodof accessing a conference room schedule, in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 23A is a portion of a flowchart showing steps for performing amethod of accessing a conference room schedule, in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 23B is a portion of a flowchart showing steps for performing amethod of accessing a conference room schedule, in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 24 illustrates a system for live presentation sharing betweenmeeting presenter's and meeting attendees' portable electronic devicesduring a meeting in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram of a radio frequency beacon employed in thesystem of FIG. 24 in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 26 illustrates a schematic diagram of a plurality of softwareengines of a presentation application of an enterprise meetingapplication in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 27 illustrates a flowchart showing a method for pairing a portableelectronic device with a meeting room device via a beacon in accordancewith an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 28 illustrates a flowchart showing a method of automaticallyloading and/or installing an enterprise meeting application via a beaconin accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 29 illustrates a flowchart showing a method for pairing a portableelectronic device with a meeting room device via one or more beacons andan enterprise server in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram of a presentation gateway employed in thesystem of FIG. 24 in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 31 illustrates a flowchart showing a method for capturing anddisplaying the presentation content by a presentation application on theattendee portable electronic device during a meeting in accordance withan illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 32 illustrates a schematic diagram depicting an exemplarypresentation page of the presentation application for presenting andviewing presentation content via the presentation gateway during ameeting in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 33 illustrates a schematic diagram depicting an exemplary accessroom page of an enterprise meeting application that incorporates thescheduling application and the presentation application in accordancewith an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 34A illustrates a schematic diagram depicting a present optionspage of the presentation application for enabling a presenter to presentpresentation content during a meeting in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment.

FIG. 34B illustrates a schematic diagram depicting a present page of thepresentation application for enabling a presenter to presentpresentation content during a meeting in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment.

FIG. 35 illustrates a schematic diagram depicting a view page of thepresentation application for enabling an attendee to view presentpresentation content during a meeting in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment.

FIG. 36 illustrates a schematic diagram depicting an annotating page ofthe presentation application for enabling a presenter or an attendee toannotate the presentation content during a meeting in accordance with anillustrative embodiment.

FIG. 37 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system for enabling anenterprise end user to initiate a conference call from the user'sportable electronic device via one or more radio frequency beacons inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 38 illustrates a schematic diagram of a plurality of softwareengines of a conferencing application of an enterprise meetingapplication in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 39 illustrates a flowchart showing a method for initiating aconference call using the conferencing application on the portableelectronic device via one or more beacons in accordance with anillustrative embodiment.

FIG. 40 illustrates a schematic diagram depicting an exemplary accessroom page of an enterprise meeting application that incorporates theconferencing application in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 41 illustrates a schematic diagram depicting a select meeting todial page of the conferencing application in accordance with anillustrative embodiment.

FIG. 42 illustrates a schematic diagram depicting a conference call pageof the conferencing application in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments are described more fully hereinafter with reference tothe accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the inventive conceptare shown. In the drawings, the size and relative sizes of layers andregions may be exaggerated for clarity. Like numbers refer to likeelements throughout. The embodiments may, however, be embodied in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the inventive concept to those skilled in the art.The scope of the embodiments is therefore defined by the appendedclaims. The detailed description that follows is written from the pointof view of a control systems company, so it is to be understood thatgenerally the concepts discussed herein are applicable to varioussubsystems and not limited to only a particular controlled device orclass of devices, such as presentation streaming products.

Reference throughout the specification to “one embodiment” or “anembodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included inat least one embodiment of the embodiments. Thus, the appearance of thephrases “in one embodiment” on “in an embodiment” in various placesthroughout the specification is not necessarily referring to the sameembodiment. Further, the particular feature, structures, orcharacteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS FOR THE MAJOR ELEMENTS IN THE DRAWING

The following is a list of major elements in the drawings in numericalorder.

-   -   11 Near Field Communication (NFC) Tag    -   13 Portable Electronic Device    -   15 Scheduling Server    -   18 Radio Frequency (RF) Beacon (Collectively the RF Beacons of        18 a-n)    -   20 Scheduling Application    -   40 AV Control Processor    -   42 Control System Processor    -   100 System    -   101 Conference Room    -   102 Conference Room Devices    -   103 Command    -   104 Communication Network    -   105 Preset Resources    -   106 Preset Parameter    -   107 Preset Information    -   108 Meeting/Conference Type    -   111 NFC Communication Channel    -   113 Application Identifier    -   115 Area Address    -   131 Central Processing Unit    -   132 Main Memory    -   133 Nonvolatile Storage    -   134 Display    -   135 User Interface    -   136 Location Sensing Circuitry    -   137 Wired I/O Interface    -   138 Network Interface    -   138 a Personal Area Network Interface    -   138 b Local Area Network Interface    -   138 c Wide Area Network Interface    -   139 Near Field Communication Interface    -   140 Camera    -   141 Accelerometers    -   181 First Distance    -   182 Second Distance    -   183 Third Distance    -   185 Beacon ID    -   201 Data Storage Area    -   202 Availability Data Storage Area    -   204 Resource Data Storage Area    -   206 Presentation Engine    -   208 User Registration Engine    -   210 Preset Association Engine    -   212 Availability Data Engine    -   214 User Preference Engine    -   216 Access Engine    -   218 User Preference Data Storage Area    -   220 Access Data Storage Area    -   222 Resource Request and Reservation Management Engine    -   224 Notification Engine    -   226 Resource Availability Verification Engine    -   228 Control Engine    -   401 Telephone    -   402 Projector    -   403 Projector Screen    -   404 Television    -   405 Computer    -   406 Audio System Devices    -   407 DVD/DVR    -   408 CD Player    -   409 Camera    -   410 VCR    -   411 Touch Panel    -   412 Presentation Capture Device    -   413 Lighting System Device    -   414 Blinds/Shades    -   415 HVAC Device    -   416 Security Device    -   417 Sensor Device    -   500 Main Screen Page    -   501 Preferences Icon    -   502 Access Room Icon    -   503 Search Icon    -   600 Preferences Page    -   601 Lighting Level Preference Menu    -   602 HVAC Preference Menu    -   603 Email Notification Preference Menu    -   700 Schedule Page    -   701 Schedule    -   702 Add Meeting Button    -   703 Main Menu Button    -   704 Meeting Icon    -   705 Vacant Icon    -   706 Status Indicator    -   800 Information Pop-Up Screen    -   801 Room Information    -   802 Time Information    -   803 Organizer Information    -   804 Subject Information    -   805 Attendee Information    -   900 Information Pop-Up Screen    -   901 Start Meeting Selectable Icon    -   902 Stop Meeting Selectable Icon    -   903 Start Record Selectable Icon    -   904 Pause Record Selectable Icon    -   905 Stop Record Selectable Icon    -   1000 Scheduling Sub-Menu    -   1001 General Information Tab    -   1002 Subject    -   1003 Location    -   1004 Date    -   1005 Start Time    -   1006 End Time    -   1007 Recurrence    -   1100 Presets Tab    -   1102 Discussion    -   1103 Presentation    -   1104 Audio Call    -   1105 Video Call    -   1106 Audio and Video Call    -   1107 Welcome Message    -   1108 Image Source    -   1201 Shared Document    -   1301 Phone Number    -   1302 Pass Code    -   1401 Video Code    -   1600 People Tab    -   1601 Required Users    -   1602 Optional Users    -   1700 Flowchart Showing a Method for Accessing a Conference Room        Schedule    -   1701-1708 Method Steps of Flowchart 1700    -   2000 A Flowchart Showing a Method for Managing a Conference Room        Schedule via Communication with an RF Beacon    -   2001-2010 Method Steps of Flowchart 2000    -   2100 A Flowchart Showing a Method for Managing a Conference Room        Schedule via Communication with an RF Beacon    -   2102, 2106 a-b Method Steps of Flowchart 2100    -   2200 a-b Flowchart Showing a Method for Accessing a Conference        Room Schedule    -   2201-2220 Method Steps of Flowchart 2200 a-b    -   2300 a-b Flowchart Showing a Method for Accessing a Conference        Room Schedule    -   2301-2322 Method Steps of Flowchart 2300 a-b    -   2400 Presentation System    -   2401 Meeting Room    -   2402 Presenter Portable Electronic Device    -   2403 Attendee Portable Electronic Device    -   2404 Beacon    -   2406 Meeting Room Display    -   2408 Wireless Local Area Network    -   2410 Presentation Gateway    -   2411 Short-Range Communication    -   2412 Enterprise Server    -   2414 Presentation Content    -   2416 Calendar Server    -   2417 Communication Network    -   2501 Application Identifier    -   2502 Beacon ID    -   2503 Presentation Gateway Network Address    -   2504 Enterprise Server Network Address    -   2600 Enterprise Meeting Application    -   2601 Presentation Application    -   2610 Presentation Content Image Capture Engine    -   2612 Image Comparison Engine    -   2614 Presentation Rendering Engine    -   2616 Word Processing Engine    -   2618 Content Compiling Engine    -   2620 Calendar Accessing and Content Retrieving Engine    -   2622 Presentation Gateway Control Engine    -   2700 A Flowchart Showing a Method for Pairing a Portable        Electronic Device with a Meeting Room Device via a Beacon to        Enable Presentation Content Sharing    -   2702-2720 Method Steps of Flowchart 2700    -   2800 A Flowchart Showing a Method of Automatically Loading        and/or Installing an Enterprise Meeting Application via a Beacon    -   2802-2810 Method Steps of Flowchart 2800    -   2900 A Flowchart Showing a Method for Pairing a Portable        Electronic Device with a Meeting Room Device via One or More        Beacons and an Enterprise Server to Enable Presentation Content        Sharing    -   2902-2933 Method Steps of Flowchart 2900    -   3002 Wireless Network Interface    -   3004 Audiovisual Interface    -   3006 Communication Network Interface    -   3008 Central Processing Unit    -   3010 Main Memory    -   3012 Nonvolatile Memory    -   3014 Analog-To-Digital Converter    -   3016 Digital-To-Analog Converter    -   3020 Video Processor    -   3022 Audio Processor    -   3100 A Flowchart Showing a Method for Capturing and Displaying        the Presentation Content by the Presentation Application on the        Attendee Portable Electronic Device    -   3102-3118 Method Steps of Flowchart 3100    -   3200 Presentation Page    -   3201 Present Icon    -   3202 View Icon    -   3300 Access Room Page    -   3301 Book Space Icon    -   3302 Present Icon    -   3303 View Icon    -   3400 Present Page    -   3401 Presentation Content Section    -   3402 View File on My Device Icon    -   3403 Meeting Event Content Section    -   3406 Present Icon    -   3408 Slideshow Icon    -   3410 PDF File Icon    -   3412 Attendee Viewing Option    -   3420 Present Page    -   3421 Current Page    -   3422 Presentation Content Ribbon    -   3424 Notes Icon    -   3425 Presentation Content Window    -   3500 View Page    -   3501 Current Image of Presentation Content    -   3502 Timeline of Previously Saved Images    -   3503 Play Presentation Icon    -   3504 Pause Presentation Icon    -   3505 Stop Presentation Icon    -   3507 Present Icon    -   3510 Notes Icon    -   3600 Annotating Page    -   3601 Current Image    -   3605 User's Notes    -   3606 On-Screen Keyboard    -   3700 Conferencing System    -   3701 Meeting Room    -   3702 Portable Electronic Device    -   3704 Radio Frequency Beacons    -   3706 Meeting Room Display    -   3710 Conferencing Endpoint    -   3711 Short-Range Communication    -   3712 Speaker    -   3714 Camera with a Microphone    -   3801 Conferencing Application    -   3810 Calendar Accessing and Conferencing Information Retrieving        Engine    -   3812 A Conferencing Endpoint Control Engine    -   3900 A Flowchart Showing a Method for Initiating a Conference        Call Using the Conferencing Application on the Portable        Electronic Device Via One or More Beacons    -   3902-3914 Method Steps of Flowchart 3900    -   4001 Dial Call Icon    -   4100 Select Meeting to Dial Page    -   4104 Video Icon    -   4106 Audio Icon    -   4108 Missing Conferencing Information Icon    -   4200 Conference Call Page    -   4202 Meeting Subject Information    -   4204 Call Status Information    -   4206 Volume Control    -   4208 Mute Control    -   4210 Call Control Button

LIST OF ACRONYMS USED IN THE DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following is a list of the acronyms used in the specification inalphabetical order.

-   -   ADC Analog-To-Digital Converter    -   ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit    -   AV Audio Visual    -   CPU Central Processing Unit    -   DAC Digital-To-Analog Converter    -   DVI Digital Visual interface    -   GUI Graphical User Interface    -   LAN Local Area Network    -   HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface    -   I/O Input/Output    -   IP Internet Protocol    -   IR Infrared    -   NFC Near Field Communication    -   PAN Personal Area Network    -   PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network    -   RAM Random-Access Memory    -   REGEX Predetermined Regular Expression    -   RF Radio Frequency    -   RFID Radio Frequency Identification    -   RGBHV Red-Green-Blue-Horizontal Sync-Vertical Sync    -   RISC Reduced Instruction Set    -   ROM Read-Only Memory    -   UUID Universally Unique Identifier    -   VGA Video Graphics Array    -   VMR Virtual Meeting Room    -   WAN Wide Area Network    -   WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

MODE(S) FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

For 40 years Creston Electronics Inc. has been the world's leadingmanufacturer of advanced control and automation systems, innovatingtechnology to simplify and enhance modern lifestyles and businesses.Crestron designs, manufactures, and offers for sale integrated solutionsto control audio, video, computer, and environmental systems. Inaddition, the devices and systems offered by Crestron streamlinestechnology, improving the quality of life in commercial buildings,universities, hotels, hospitals, and homes, among other locations.Accordingly, the systems, methods, and modes of the aspects of theembodiments described herein can be manufactured by Crestron ElectronicsInc., located in Rockleigh, N.J.

The present invention provides a system for leveraging short rangecommunication technologies such as near field communications andBluetooth 4.0 to manage the schedule of one or more areas in a facility,such as conference rooms in a corporate facility. A portable electronicdevice, such as a smart phone, communicates with an identification unit,such as NFC tag or one or more RF beacons, located in or near aconference room. The portable electronic device may read an applicationidentifier and a room address or area address from the identificationunit. The room address may be a uniform resource locator (URL) for ascheduling server. The application identifier identifies a schedulingapplication to open on the portable electronic device. The schedulingapplication then employs the URL to communicate with the schedulingserver. Upon accessing the scheduling server, the user may manage theconference room schedule by viewing the schedule for the conferenceroom, reserving the conference room for a period of time, reservingresources, preconfiguring room and resource settings, starting ameeting, ending a meeting, sharing documentation and viewing resourcesfor the conference room among other things.

While the current invention is described as being implemented formanaging the schedule of one or more conference rooms in a commercialfacility it is not limited to such an implementation. The presentinvention may be employed to reserve any area or asset in which a commonschedule is maintained. For example, one or more assets or areas in acommercial, residential, retail, or non-profit structure. For example,the present invention may be used to manage the schedule of aworkstation for a hoteling employee.

Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary embodiment of a system 100 formanaging a conference room schedule is shown in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the present invention. It should be notedthat the exemplary embodiment of system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 may bevaried in one or more aspects without departing from the spirit andscope of the teachings disclosed herein.

The system 100 includes a portable electronic device 13. The portableelectronic device 13 may be a smart phone, tablet, remote control,personal digital assistant or any other electronic device configured forstoring a scheduling application 20 and communicating with otherelectronic devices via RF communication protocols. As will be furtherexplained below, the portable electronic device 13 is configured toreceive information via the identification unit, such as an NFC tag 11,communicate with a scheduling server 15 and send at least one command103 to control preset resources 105 once a conference room 101 with thepreset resources 105 is reserved.

The portable electronic device 13 is associated with a user ID. The userID may be a characteristic of the device itself or assigned to thedevice, such as a manufacturer ID or a network address, which isassociated with a user. Alternatively, the user ID may be an IDassociated with an account of the user. For example, the user mayregister a user ID with a scheduling application on the portableelectronic device.

For example, the portable electronic device 13 may be a smart phonerunning a scheduling application 20 available from Crestron Electronics,Inc. The scheduling application 20 may be downloaded and stored in theportable electronic device 13 from an application marketplace such asthe Google Play marketplace, the iTunes® application marketplace orother similar marketplace.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting the portable electronic device 13,in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the invention. Theportable electronic device 13 may include at least one centralprocessing unit (CPU) 131. For example, the CPU 131 may represent one ormore microprocessors, and the microprocessors may be “general purpose”microprocessors, a combination of general and special purposemicroprocessors, or application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).Additionally or alternatively, the CPU 131 may include one or morereduced instruction set (RISC) processors, video processors, or relatedchip sets. The CPU 131 may provide processing capability to execute anoperating system, run various applications, and/or provide processingfor one or more of the techniques described herein. Applications thatmay run on the portable electronic device 13 may include, for examplesoftware for managing a calendar and software for controlling otherelectronic devices via a control network.

A main memory 132 may be communicably coupled to the CPU 131, which maystore data and executable code. The main memory 132 may representvolatile memory such as RAM, but may also include nonvolatile memory,such as read-only memory (ROM) or Flash memory. In buffering or cachingdata related to operations of the CPU 131, the main memory 132 may storedata associated with applications running on the portable electronicdevice 13.

The portable electronic device 13 may also include nonvolatile storage133. The nonvolatile storage 133 may represent any suitable nonvolatilestorage medium, such as a hard disk drive or nonvolatile memory, such asFlash memory. Being well-suited to long-term storage, the nonvolatilestorage 133 may store data files such as media (e.g., music and videofiles), software (e.g., for implementing functions on the portableelectronic device 13), preference information (e.g., room and resourcepreset preferences), wireless connection information (e.g., informationthat may enable media device to establish a wireless connection such asa control network connection) and identity information (information toidentify a user) and access information (information that may enable anindividual to access restricted areas).

It should be appreciated that data associated with maintaining,scheduling and initiating a conference schedule may be saved in thenonvolatile storage 133. Nonvolatile storage 133 includes one or moresoftware engines operable to enable the maintenance, management,scheduling, initiating, publication, presentation, provision and/orother data manipulation capability of resource availability andreservation information as well as perform other operations. Dependingupon implementation, various aspects of teachings of the presentinvention may be implemented in a single software engine, in a pluralityof software engines, in one or more hardwired components or in acombination of hardwired and software systems.

In addition to one or more software engines, nonvolatile storage 133also includes one or more data storage areas. Data storage area isoperably associated with the main memory and CPU 131. Data storage areaof non-volatile storage may be leveraged to maintain data concerning theavailability of one or more conference rooms or resources maintained forreservation, descriptive information concerning the one or moreresources maintained for reservation, preset information, presetparameters, shared documentation, as well as other information pertinentto the management, maintenance, scheduling, initiating, publication,presentation and/or provision of resource availability and reservationinformation. Data storage area, or portions thereof, may also beutilized to store myriad other data.

Depending upon implementation, nonvolatile storage 133 may beimplemented within a portable electronic device 13, in a storage areanetwork operably coupled to a portable electronic device 13, and/or inother storage media, including removable media, compatible with andaccessible by portable electronic device 13. In one embodiment, the oneor more software engines and data storage areas cooperate in themanagement of the one or more conference room schedules, according toteachings of the present invention.

A display 134 may display images and data for the portable electronicdevice 13. It should be appreciated that only certain embodiments mayinclude the display 134. The display 134 may be any suitable display134, such as liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED)based display, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) based display, acathode ray tube (CRT) display, or an analog or digital television. Insome embodiments, the display 134 may function as a touch screen throughwhich a user may interact with the portable electronic device 13.

The portable electronic device 13 may further include a user interface135. The user interface 135 may represent indicator lights and userinput structures, but may also include a graphical user interface (GUI)on the display 134. In practice, the user interface 135 may operate viathe CPU 131, using memory from the main memory and long-term storage inthe nonvolatile storage. In an embodiment lacking the display 134,indicator lights, sound devices, buttons, and other various input/output(I/O) devices may allow a user to interface with the portable electronicdevice 13. In an embodiment having a GUI, the user interface 135 mayprovide interaction with interface elements on the display 134 viacertain user input structures, user input peripherals such as a keyboardor mouse, or a touch sensitive implementation of the display 134. Theuser may interact with the graphic user interface via touch means on atouch screen, input means via one or more keyboard buttons, mousebuttons etc., or voice instructions.

As should be appreciated, one or more applications may be open andaccessible to a user via the user interface 135 and displayed on thedisplay 134 of the portable electronic device 13. The applications mayrun on the CPU 131 in conjunction with the main memory 132, thenonvolatile storage 133, the display 134, and the user interface 135.The applications may run on the CPU 131 in conjunction with the mainmemory, the nonvolatile storage, the display, and the user interface. Aswill be discussed below, instructions stored in the main memory, thenonvolatile storage, or the CPU 131 of the portable electronic device 13may enable a user to access and manage a schedule for a building. Forexample, a user may view and manipulate one or more schedules for abuilding or search for an available conference room based on resourcesand availability. As such, it should be appreciated that theinstructions for carrying out such techniques on the portable electronicdevice 13 may represent a standalone application, a function of theoperating system of the portable electronic device 13, or a function ofthe hardware of the CPU 131, the main memory, the nonvolatile storage,or other hardware of the portable electronic device 13.

One such application that may be open and accessible to the user is ascheduling application 20 for enabling access to a scheduling server 15.For example, the scheduling application 20 may be mobile applicationbased on Fusion RV software available from Crestron Electronics, Inc. ofRockleigh, N.J. The scheduling application 20 may provide similarfunctionality as the Fusion RV software by enabling a user to: check theavailability of one or more conference rooms; book one or moreconference rooms for a predefined time either presently or at somefuture date; search for a desirable conference room based onavailability and resources such as size, AV equipment, catering, etc.,determine the direction of a desired conference room based on thelocation of the NFC tag 11; and check-in to a meeting and end a meeting.By checking in and ending a meeting, actions may be triggered from anaccompanying control system controlling one or more devices andenvironmental aspects of the conference room.

Additionally, because the portable electronic device 13 may be used toidentify a user, the scheduling application 20 may provide additionalfunctionality. The scheduling software may know the identity of a userbooking a conference room remotely and update the schedule of theconference room and the user accordingly. Additionally, a control systemin communication with the scheduling software may alter one or morecontrol settings based on the user. For example, the schedulingapplication may communicate personal settings for the conference room tothe control network. The scheduling application may check user identityagainst a database to determine access rights for the user to view ormanage the schedule of an area or resource. A user may have limited orno access to certain areas or resources based on time of day, priority,employment level or a myriad of other factors.

The scheduling application 20, such as Crestron Roomview or othersimilar scheduling application 20 may be downloaded from an applicationmarketplace such as from the Google Play application marketplace or theApple iTunes® application marketplace. The portable electronic device 13communicates with a scheduling server 15 to upload and/or download oneor more aspects of availability data associated with a conference roomor resource to be maintained for reservation. Upon opening, thescheduling application 20 may communicate with a scheduling server 15 todownload a project file of the facility. In another embodiment, thescheduling application 20 may not require a local file for the facilityand may be completely web-based. The project file may compriseinformation regarding the facility such as the number and type ofconference rooms, the resources available for each conference room andinformation regarding the control system associated with the conferenceroom, such as information enabling communication with one or morecontrol processors.

The scheduling application 20 comprises a series of menu pages eachfurther comprising selectable elements and graphical elements. One ormore of the menu pages may comprise a schedule of a conference room 101.The portable electronic device 13 transmits information to thescheduling server 15 according to inputs from the user. Additionally,the scheduling server 15 may communicate with the portable electronicdevice 13, such as by providing updates to the schedule and providingfeedback such as confirmation notices to the portable electronic device13.

In certain embodiments, the portable electronic device 13 may includelocation sensing circuitry 136. The location sensing circuitry 136 mayrepresent global positioning system (GPS) circuitry, but may alsorepresent one or more algorithms and databases, stored in thenonvolatile storage or main memory and executed by the CPU 131, whichmay be used to infer location based on various observed factors. Forexample, the location sensing circuitry may represent an algorithm anddatabase used to approximate geographic location based on the detectionof local 802.11x (Wi-Fi) networks or nearby cellular phone towers.

The portable electronic device 13 may also include a wired input/output(I/O) interface 137 for a wired interconnection between one electronicdevice and another electronic device. The wired I/O interface 137 mayrepresent, for example, a universal serial bus (USB) port or an IEEE1394 or FireWire® port, but may also represent a proprietary connection.Additionally, the wired I/O 137 interface may permit a connection touser input peripheral devices, such as a keyboard or a mouse.

An infrared (IR) interface may enable the portable electronic device 13to receive and/or transmit signals with infrared light. By way ofexample, the IR interface may comply with an infrared IrDA specificationfor data transmission. Alternatively, the IR interface may functionexclusively to receive control signals or to output control signals. Inthis way, the portable electronic device 13 may issue signals to controlother electronic devices that may lack other interfaces forcommunication.

One or more network interfaces 138 may provide additional connectivityfor the portable electronic device 13. The network interfaces 138 mayrepresent, for example, one or more network interface cards (NIC) or anetwork controller. In certain embodiments, the network interface 138may include a personal area network (PAN) interface 138 a. The PANinterface 138 a may provide capabilities to network with, for example, aBluetooth® network, an IEEE 802.15.4 (e.g., ZigBee) network, or an ultrawideband network (UWB). As should be appreciated, the networks accessedby the PAN interface 138 a may, but do not necessarily, represent lowpower, low bandwidth, or close range wireless connections. The PANinterface 138 a may permit one electronic device to connect to anotherlocal electronic device via an ad-hoc or peer-to-peer connection.However, the connection may be disrupted if the separation between thetwo electronic devices exceeds the range of the PAN interface.

The network interface may also include a local area network (LAN)interface 138 b. The LAN interface 138 b may represent an interface to awired Ethernet-based network, but may also represent an interface to awireless LAN, such as an IEEE 802.11x wireless network. The range of theLAN interface 138 b may generally exceed the range available via the PANinterface 138 a. Additionally, in many cases, a connection between twoelectronic devices via the LAN interface 138 b may involve communicationthrough a network router or other intermediary device.

For some embodiments of the portable electronic device 13, the networkinterfaces 138 may include the capability to connect directly to a widearea network (WAN) via a WAN interface 138 c. The WAN interface 138 cmay permit a connection to a cellular data network, such as the EnhancedData rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network or other 3G network. Whenconnected via the WAN interface 138 c, the portable electronic device 13may remain connected to the Internet and, in some embodiments, toanother electronic device, despite changes in location that mightotherwise disrupt connectivity via the PAN interface 138 a or the LANinterface 138 b. As will be discussed below, the wired I/O interface 137and the network interfaces 138 may represent high-bandwidthcommunication channels for transferring user data using the simplifieddata transfer techniques discussed herein.

The portable electronic device 13 may also include a near fieldcommunication (NFC) interface 139. The NFC interface 139 may allow forextremely close range communication at relatively low data rates (e.g.,464 kb/s), and may comply with such standards as ISO 18092 or ISO 21521,or it may allow for close range communication at relatively high datarates (e.g., 560 Mbps), and may comply with the TransferJet® protocol.The NFC interface 139 may have a range of approximately 2 to 4 cm. Theclose range communication with the NFC interface 139 may take place viamagnetic field induction, allowing the NFC interface 139 to communicatewith other NFC interfaces or to retrieve information from tags havingradio frequency identification (RFID) circuitry. As discussed below, theNFC interface 139 may provide a manner of initiating or facilitating atransfer of user data from one electronic device to another electronicdevice.

The portable electronic device 13 may also include a camera 140. Withthe camera 140, the portable electronic device 13 may obtain digitalimages or videos. In combination with optical character recognition(OCR) software, barcode-reading software, or matrix-code-readingsoftware running on the portable electronic device 13, the camera 140may be used to input data from printed materials having text or barcodeinformation. Such data may include information indicating how to controlanother device from a matrix barcode that may be printed on the otherdevice, as described below.

In certain embodiments of the portable electronic device 13, one or moreaccelerometers 141 may sense the movement or orientation of the portableelectronic device 13. The accelerometers 141 may provide input orfeedback regarding the position of the portable electronic device 13 tocertain applications running on the CPU 131.

The one or more communication interfaces described above enablescommunications with a plurality of user communication devices viacommunication network. User communication devices which may be leveragedin accordance with teachings of the present invention include, withoutlimitation, mobile telephone, personal digital assistant, computersystem, video display/conferencing system, touch panel, laptop computeras well as other communication enabled devices.

Referring to FIG. 1, communication network 104 may include one or moregateway devices (not expressly shown). Other user communication devicesmay communicate with the gateway devices of communication network 104just as portable electronic device 13 communicates with the gatewaydevices. In this manner, user communication devices may be in selectivecommunication with portable electronic device 13 via the gateway devicesand communication network 104.

The gateways of communication network 104 preferably provide portableelectronic device 13 with an entrance to communication network 104 andmay include software and/or hardware components to manage trafficentering and exiting communication network 104 and conversion betweenthe communication protocols used by user communication devices, portableelectronic device 13 and communication network 104. In certainembodiments, the gateways of communication network 104 may function as aproxy server and a firewall server for user communication devices aswell as portable electronic device 13. Further, the gateways may beassociated with a router (not expressly shown) operable to direct agiven packet of data that arrives at a gateway and a switch (notexpressly shown) operable to provide a communication path into and outof each gateway.

In one embodiment, communication network 104 may be a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN). In alternate embodiments, communicationnetwork 104 may include a cable telephony network, an IP (InternetProtocol) telephony network, a wireless network, a hybrid Cable/PSTNnetwork, a hybrid IP/PSTN network, a hybrid wireless/PSTN network or anyother suitable communication network or combination of communicationnetworks. In addition, other network embodiments can be deployed withmany variations in the number and type of devices, communicationnetworks, the communication protocols, system topologies, and myriadother details without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

In one embodiment, user communication devices may include a variety offorms of equipment connected to communication network 104 and accessibleto a user. User communication devices may be, employ or includetelephones (wireline or wireless), dial-up modems, cable modems, DSL(digital subscriber line) modems, phone sets, fax equipment, answeringmachines, set-top boxes, televisions, POS (point-of-sale) equipment, PBX(private branch exchange) systems, personal computers, laptop computers,personal digital assistants (PDAs), SDRs, other nascent technologies, orany other appropriate type or combination of communication equipmentavailable to a user. User communication devices may be equipped forconnectivity to communication network via a PSTN, DSLs, cable network,wireless network, or other communication channel.

The AV control system processor 40 is connected to various conferenceroom devices 102 via a wire line or wireless connection. The conferenceroom devices 102 include various types of audio/visual equipment. Forexample, audio/visual equipment includes, but is not limited to, cameras409, VCR 410, audio system device 406, DVD/DVR 407, telephone 401,projector 402 and projector screen 403, CD player 408, touch panel 411,one or more local computers 405, cable television box (not shown), andtelevision 404 such as plasma, liquid crystal display, light-emittingdiode flat panel, and cathode ray tube television.

The AV control system processor 40 may be a Crestron 3-Series Controlsystem available from Crestron Electronics, Inc. of Rockleigh, N.J. TheCrestron 3-Series Control system provides a complete integrated AV orautomation solution. Every audio, video, and environmental element ofthe conference room 101 becomes integrated and accessible through the AVsystem processor 40.

The control system processor 42 is used for, among other things,controlling and monitoring various devices and environmental conditionsthroughout a structure. The control system may control one or more ofthe following controllable devices: A/V devices including but notlimited to content sources, content sinks, video recorders, audioreceivers, speakers, and projectors; lighting devices 413 including butnot limited to lamps, ballasts, light emitting diode (LED) drivers; HVACdevices 415 including but not limited to thermostats, occupancy sensors,air conditioning units, heating units, filtration systems, fans,humidifiers; shading elements 414 including but not limited to motorizedwindow treatments, dimmable windows; security elements 416 including butnot limited to security cameras, monitors and door locks; householdappliances including but not limited to refrigerators, ovens, blenders,microwaves; control devices including but not limited to switches,relays, current limiting devices; and industrial devices including butnot limited to motors, pumps, chillers, and air compressors.

One or more network interfaces may provide connectivity for the AV andcontrol system processors (collectively processors). The networkinterface may represent, for example, one or more NICs or a networkcontroller. In certain embodiments, the network interface may include aPAN interface. The PAN interface may provide capabilities to networkwith, for example, a Bluetooth® network, an IEEE 802.15.4 (e.g. Zigbeenetwork), or an ultra wideband network. As should be appreciated, thenetworks accessed by the PAN interface may, but do not necessarily,represent low power, low bandwidth, or close range wireless connections.The PAN interface may permit one electronic device to connect to anotherlocal electronic device via an ad-hoc or peer-to-peer connection.However, the connection may be disrupted if the separation between thetwo electronic devices exceeds the range of the PAN interface.

The network interface may also include a LAN interface. The LANinterface may represent an interface to a wired Ethernet-based networkbut may also represent an interface to a wireless LAN, such as an802.11x wireless network. The range of the LAN interface may generallyexceed the range available via the PAN interface. Additionally, in manycases, a connection between two electronic devices via the LAN interfacemay involve communication through a network router or other intermediarydevice.

Ethernet connectivity enables integration with IP-controllable devicesand allows the processors to be part of a larger managed controlnetwork. Whether residing on a sensitive corporate LAN, a home network,or accessing the Internet through a cable modem, the control processormay provide secure, reliable interconnectivity with IP-enabled devices,such as touch screens, computers, mobile devices, video displays,Blu-ray Disc® players, media servers, security systems, lighting, HVAC,and other equipment—both locally and globally.

The processors may also include one or more wired input/output (I/O)interface for a wired connection between one electronic device andanother electronic device. One or more wired interfaces may represent aserial port, for example a COM port or a USB port. Additionally, thewired I/O interface may represent, for example, a Cresnet port. Cresnetprovides a network wiring solution for Crestron keypads, lightingcontrols, thermostats, and other devices that don't require the higherspeed of Ethernet. The Cresnet bus offers wiring and configuration,carrying bidirectional communication and 24 VDC power to each deviceover a simple 4-conductor cable.

One or more IR interfaces may enable the processors to receive and/ortransmit signals with infrared light. The IR interface may comply withan infrared IrDA specification for data transmission. Alternatively, theIR interface may function exclusively to receive control signals or tooutput control signals. The IR interface may provide a direct connectionwith one or more devices such as a centralized AV sources, videodisplays, and other devices.

One or more programmable relay ports may enable the processors tocontrol window shades, projection screens, lifts, power controllers, andother contact-closure actuated equipment. One or more “Versiport” I/Oports may enable the integration of occupancy sensors, power sensors,door switches, or anything device that provides a dry contact closure,low-voltage logic, or 0-10 Volt DC signal.

For some embodiments of the processors, the network interfaces mayinclude the capability to connect directly to a WAN via a WAN interface.The WAN interface may permit connection to a cellular data network, suchas the EDGE network or other 3G network. When connected via the WANinterface, the processors may remain connected to the Internet and, insome embodiments, to another electronic device, despite changes inlocation that might otherwise disrupt connectivity via the PAN interfaceor the LAN interface.

By leveraging remote access of the processors, a user may control thedevices or environment settings in a building from anywhere in the worldusing a portable electronic device 13.

The portable electronic device 13 communicates with a scheduling server15 to upload and/or download one or more aspects of availability dataassociated with a resource to be maintained for reservation. Forexample, a user may upload or download information concerning one ormore resources from or to one or more applications maintained by theuser on a local computer, personal digital assistant, or otherinformation handling system as well from a user maintained network sitesuch as a web-based calendaring application or another content site.Examples of applications or utilities from which information may beuploaded or to which information may be downloaded another, withoutlimitation, Microsoft Outlook®, Yahoo! Calendar®, Lotus Notes®, as wellas other calendaring applications.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an NFC tag 11 employed in the system ofFIG. 1 in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the invention.The portable electronic device 13 reads the NFC tag 11 to quickly accessthe schedule of one or more conference rooms. The NFC tag 11 encodes anapplication identifier 113 and an area address 115, such as a uniformresource locator (URL) for the room. In an embodiment of the invention,the NFC tag 11 is configured for being read by an NFC interface in apassive communication mode. In this mode, the NFC tag 11 draws itsoperating power from the electromagnetic field provided by the NFCinterface of the initiator device. Advantageously, the NFC tag 11 doesnot require a power supply for operation.

The NFC tag 11 may be an element of a control point located in or nearthe conference room or may be an independent device disposed on asurface located in or near the conference room. For example, the controlpoint may provide limited functionality, such as displaying the statusand schedule of the room, while the portable electronic device 13provides the interface to access the scheduling program to manipulatethe schedule of the room or to view and manipulate the schedule of otherconference rooms.

Referring now to FIG. 4, one embodiment of a scheduling application 20comprising a collection of software engines and data storage areas isshown according to teachings of the present invention. As mentionedabove, the number of software engines and data storage areas may bevaried and, as such, the specific arrangement discussed herein ispresented primarily for descriptive purposes.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, data storage area 201 of nonvolatile storagemay include one or more resource availability data storage areas 202.Resource availability data storage area 202 includes data pertaining totimes, dates or other information concerning when a resource may bereserved. In one embodiment, resource availability data storage area 202may cooperate with other data maintained in one or more data storageareas as well as one or more software engines. Data storage area 201also includes one or more resource data storage areas 204.

Resource data storage area 204 is operable to maintain data concerningone or more aspects of information regarding a resource maintained forreservation. In addition, resource data storage area 204 also includes,for example, various preset parameters 106 (e.g., FIG. 10), presetinformation 107 (e.g., FIG. 10), preset resources 105 (FIG. 1), andconference type 108 (e.g., FIG. 11). In general, preset resources 105are conference room devices 102 such as video projector 402, CD player408, touch panel 411, audio 406, camera 409, DVD/DVR player 407, VCR410, lighting system device 413, touch panel 411, blinds/shades 414,HVAC system 415, security system 416, sensor system 417, and localcomputer 405 (FIG. 1). In general, preset parameters 106 (e.g., FIG. 10)are information related to the meeting or conference. For example,preset parameters 106 could include start and end time of theconference, meeting and event types discussion, presentation, audiocall, video call, audio and video call, shared documentation, phonenumber, passcode, and video number. These preset parameters 106 will befurther explained below. In general, preset information 107 (e.g., FIG.10) is information from the preset parameters 106 received from theuser. For example, preset information 107 is the actual time (i.e., 8:30AM) in response to the preset parameter 106 of the meeting start time1005. It should be understood that preset parameters 106, presetinformation 107, preset resources 105, and conference type 108 mayinclude other data/information that is programmable depending upon thevarious aspects of the teachings of the present invention. For example,images, descriptive information, as well as other information regardinga resource maintained for reservation may be stored in resource datastorage area. Further, resource data storage area 204 includesinformation defining relationships between resources, such asrelationship details among preset resources 105, preset information 107,and preset parameter 106. Additional information may be maintained inresource data storage area 204 without departing from the spirit andscope of teachings of the present disclosure.

Data storage area 201 also includes one or more user preference datastorage areas 218. User preference data storage area 218 is operable tomaintain data concerning one or more aspects of information regardingthe preferences of the user associated with the personal electronicdevice 13. Data storage area 201 may comprise settings for resources,conference room devices and environmental controls.

Data storage area 201 also includes one or more access data storageareas 220. Access data storage area 220 is operable to maintain dataconcerning one or more aspects of information regarding the accessinformation of a user associated with the personal electronic device 13,access information of other users or access information corresponding toone or more resources. This information may include one or moredatabases linking users and resources with permissions.

Teachings of the present invention may be implemented or effected usinga variety of components and/or techniques. In an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention, one or more software engines may be leveraged inthe management of one or more schedules of conference rooms. As such,according to teachings of the present invention, one or more softwareengines preferably associated with portable electronic device 13cooperate to achieve and effect teachings discussed herein.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention may include user registration engine 208. User registrationengine 208 requires or requests a variety of data from a user during aregistration process. For example, requests for data may include theuser's name and password for registration purposes. In addition toperforming such conventional user registration tasks as requiring orrequesting a user to create a user name and/or password, an embodimentof user registration engine 208 employed by portable electronic device13 preferably requires or requests a registering resource provider tosubmit availability data as to one or more resources the resourceprovider desires to maintain for reservation. In addition, userregistration engine 208 may also request or require that a resourceprovider submit information describing the one or more resources to bemaintained for reservation. Further, user registration engine 208 mayrequest or require that a resource provider set desired access rightsfor resource requesters seeking to view the resources maintained forreservation by the resource provider.

Various other data may be gathered from a registering user by a userregistration engine 208 incorporating teachings of the presentinvention. It should be noted that user registration engine 208 mayleverage one or more additional software engines in the performance ofthe exemplary operations discussed above and that in operationsdiscussed, with respect to certain circumstances, user registrationengine 208 may be supplanted by alternative software enginefunctionality.

In addition to user registration engine 208, an example embodiment of asystem, method and software incorporating teachings of the presentinvention also includes preset association engine 210. Presetassociation engine 210 provides preset parameters 106 to be displayedand defines the association between the preset resources 105 and thepreset information 107 obtained by the user from the preset parameters106. For example, the portable electronic device 13 displays a presetparameter 106 such as asking for a conference type 108 and providingoptions such as a meeting or an event type of conference. The userseeking to make one or more resources available for reservation mayselect, for example, a meeting type 108. The preset association engine210 associates the meeting type (preset information 107) with a list ofmore preset parameters 106 and/or resources (e.g., conference roomdevices 102). Once the user chooses the type of conference 108, anotherpreset parameter 106 is requested for the user to enter additionalpreset information 107. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, if the userchooses a meeting type 108, another preset parameter 106 is prompted torequest the user to enter a type of meeting type 108 such as discussion1102, presentation 1103, audio call 1104, video call 1105, or audio andvideo call 1106. If the user chooses audio and video call 1106, anotherpreset parameter 106 of upload shared document 1201 (e.g., FIG. 12) isrequested of the user. The preset association engine 210 may thenassociate the audio and video call 1106 with preset resources 105 (e.g.,conference room devices 102). Referring to FIG. 1, in this example, thepreset resources 105 are telephone 401, video projector 402, camera 409,and computer 405. It should be understood that the preset resources 105may be altered depending upon the various aspects of the teachings ofthe present invention.

In an embodiment of the invention, the scheduling application 20 mayfind an alternative conference room for an attendee due to a schedulingconflict or a lack of required resources in the conference room.Referring back to FIG. 4, the preset association engine 210 operateswith an availability data engine 212 as well as other software engines,to determine a conference room 101 that has the required presetresources 105 for the audio and video call 210 and reserve suchconference room 101. The availability data engine 212 also includes asynchronization function that enable users to maintain coherency betweena portable or local calendaring utility or application and a publiclyaccessible resource availability and reservation system. Synchronizationcapabilities also include functionality operable to resolve conflictsbetween a user's calendaring utility and availability schedulingmaintained by the resource availability and reservation system.

In addition to the preset association engine 210, an example embodimentof a system, method and software incorporating teachings of the presentinvention also includes user preference engine 214. User preferenceengine 214 provides preset parameters 106 to be displayed and requests avariety of data from a user during a setup process. For example,requests for data may include preferred lighting level, preferredthermostat setting and preferred notification settings.

The software engine also includes a resource request and reservationmanagement engine 222. In one embodiment, the resource request andreservation management engine 222 is employed to monitor and ensurecompliance with reservation criteria established by the providers of theresources available for reservation. Further, resource request andreservation management engine 222 may be employed to monitor and ensurecompliance with one or more reservation linking requirements requestedby a provider of one or more resources available for reservation. Inaddition, resource request and reservation management engine 222 may,such as through cooperation with notification engine 224, be operable tonotify a resource provider of a resource reservation request, to notifya resource requester as to the status of a reservation request for aselected resource, generate one or more meeting requests or remindersindicative of the resource reservation, as well as perform other tasks.

Resource availability verification engine 226 may also be included in anembodiment of the present invention. In one aspect, resourceavailability verification engine 226 may be used to perform one or morechecks on resources maintained for reservation to ensure that postingsregarding such resources accurately reflect substantially current orup-to-date availability. In another aspect, resource availabilityverification engine 226 may, upon receipt of a resource reservationrequest, verify that a selected resource remains available and has notbeen reserved in the interim period between a posting of the selectedresource's reservation availability and the time when a user makes orinitiates a reservation request process. Other operations and benefitsmay flow from a resource availability verification engine 226incorporating teachings of the present invention.

In addition to or in lieu of one or more software engines discussedabove, notification engine 224 may also be included in an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention. Notification engine 224, accordingto teachings of the present invention, may be employed to providereal-time status information of resources in each conference roomincluding the preset resources 105 such as environmental resources andconference room devices. The notification engine may notify a resourcerequester or other people such as IT specialist as to the status of thesubmitted reservation requests and/or acknowledged reservations.

Notification engine 224 may also be leveraged to deliver messages sentbetween various people such as a user from one conference room to an ITspecialist. For example, notification engine 224 in cooperation withother engines and information handling system may provide instantmessaging service, short messaging service, multimedia messagingservice, or email. It may be appreciated that other situations exist inwhich a notification would be preferred or required. As such, a varietyof other notifications may be performed by notification engine 224included in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the teachings discussed herein.

The software engines also include a control engine 228. In general, thecontrol engine 228 may be leveraged in association with one or moreincluded software engines and data available in data storage area tosend at least one command to control the associated preset resourcesonce the conference room 101 with the preset resources is reserved.Referring to FIG. 1, for example, the control engine 228 sends a commandto control the associated preset resources 105 in response to the startand end time of the conference. The at least one command includes acommand to power on/off the video projector, CD player, touch panel,audio, camera, DVD/DVR player, and VCR. The at least one command mayalso include a command to display and power on/off or dim the lightingsystem device, control the touch panel, raise/lower the blinds/shades,power on/off or adjust the temperature of the HVAC system,enable/disable the security system, power on/off or move the sensorsystem, and power on/off local computer. Depending upon implementation,other control commands are contemplated by the present invention.

The software engine also includes a presentation engine 206. In general,the presentation engine 206 may be leveraged in association with one ormore included software engines and data available in data storage areato enable visual layout and presentation structure of a managementresource reservation, real-time diagnostic and control content pages.For example, presentation engine 206 may enable general content sitepresentation of one or more resources maintained for 1) reservation, 2)preset parameter, 3) real-time diagnostic, control, and monitor ofconference room devices, 4) one or more search features or viewercustomization presentation features, 5) meeting start and stopfunctionality and 6) user communication device formatting, as well asother aspects of delivering resource availability and reservationinformation to a viewer or registered user via a content site. FIG. 5through FIG. 16, discussed below, include embodiments of content pageswhose presentation and layout may be effected using one or more contentpresentation engines such as presentation engine 206.

An example embodiment of a system, method and software incorporatingteachings of the present invention also includes an access engine 216.The access engine 216 may check the access of a user to a resource suchas by maintaining a database listing access permissions for resourcesand users as identified by the user ID of the portable electronicdevice. The access engine 216 may subsequently restrict a user's accessto view or manage the schedule of a resource. Access may restrictedbased on a number of factors including time of day or date, location ofresource, popularity of resource, priority level of user, employmentstatus or level of user. Additionally, the access engine 216 may limitthe functions of the scheduling application based on a user's role inthe meeting. For example, a meeting organizer may have more access tomodify the meeting than an invited participant.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram depicting a main screen page 500 of thescheduling application 20 for a system of managing a conference roomschedule, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of theinvention. Upon opening the application manually, a user may bepresented with this screen. Main screen options include a preferencesicon 501, an access room icon 502, and search icon 503. By selecting thepreferences option 501, the user may access a menu for setting certainpreferences unique to the user. Selecting the current area 502 may bringup a screen in which the user may enter a URL for a room schedule on ascheduling server or employ an interface of the phone, such as an NFCinterface or a Bluetooth interface as will be described below. Thesearch icon 503 allows a user to access a menu where the schedulingapplication 20 may locate a suitable conference room according to thetime of the meeting and required size and resources of the conferenceroom.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram depicting a preferences page 600 of thescheduling application 20 for a system of managing a conference roomschedule, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of theinvention. The preferences page 600 presents fields in which the usermay enter certain preferences for conference room environments andmeeting presets. For example, a user may provide preference informationregarding lighting levels, HVAC settings, and notification settings forthe conference. The preference page comprises a lighting level pull downmenu 601, a thermostat setting fillable field 602 and a notificationsetting pull down menu 603. In an embodiment of the invention, uponreserving a conference room, the scheduling application 20 may forwardthe preference information to a control processor 42 either directly orvia the scheduling server 15.

In another embodiment of the invention, upon entering preferenceinformation, the preference information is uploaded and stored by thescheduling server 15 or the control processor 42 and associated with auser ID. Upon the user reserving a conference room with the user ID, thescheduling server 15 or control processor 42 associates the preferenceinformation with the reserved conference room.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram depicting a schedule page 700 of thescheduling application 20 for a system of managing a conference roomschedule, in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of theinvention. Upon placing the portable electronic device 13 withincommunication range of an NFC tag 11 within the area, according to theapplication ID and area address encoded on the tag, the portableelectronic device 13 will launch the scheduling application 20 anddisplay the schedule page 700 for the area. Alternatively, the user maylaunch the application and manually enter a room address or scan the NFCtag 11 from any menu page in the application to access the schedule page700.

The schedule page 700 comprises a schedule 701 of the area. The schedule701 shown in FIG. 7 is a daily schedule with fifteen minute increments;however, the scheduling application 20 may display the schedule 701 in adifferent time scale and with different increments as well. For example,the scheduling application 20 may display a daily schedule divided intoten minute increments or a weekly or monthly schedule 701 as well.

In addition to the schedule 701 of the area, the schedule page 700further comprises selectable items comprising an add meeting button 702and a main menu button 703. As will be described below, by selecting theadd meeting button 702, the user may add a meeting for the area. Byselecting the main menu button 703, the user may be presented withselectable options of the main menu, either by displaying the selectableoptions on a portion of the schedule page 700 or by navigating to themain menu page.

The schedule 701 displays the day as time periods divided by fifteenminute increments. Each time period comprises a status indicator 706,indicating whether the room is booked or available during the timeperiod. The status indicator 706 may be selectable icon covering one ormore time periods. For example, the selectable icon may be displayed ina certain color or shape to indicate whether the time period is bookedor vacant. Additionally, the status indicator may be the absence of aselectable icon or visual indicator. For example, the absence of aselectable icon with meeting information may indicate vacant.

In FIG. 7, each time period is displayed as vacant or booked. Forexample, shaded may indicate booked and not shaded may indicateavailable. In an embodiment of the invention, the time period may behighlighted a third color to indicate another state of the conferenceroom. For example, yellow may indicate that the conference room istentatively booked such as when a meeting confirmation is still pending.

In FIG. 7, the time period from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM comprises a shadedmeeting icon 704 indicating that conference room is booked for this timeperiod. Additionally in the shaded time periods, a title for themeeting, “Patent Review” is displayed. Conversely, the time period from3:30 PM to 5:15 PM comprises an unshaded vacant icon 705 indicating thatit is available.

A booked time period may display the name of the meeting and/or theorganizer of the meeting. A user may interact with the schedule 701 suchas by scrolling down to view other time periods or by selecting one ormore time periods to view information pertaining to a booked time periodor to book the time period if available.

A user may reserve the room by either selecting a vacant time period(e.g., 705) on the schedule 701 or selecting the “Add Meeting” button(702).

In an embodiment of the invention, prior to displaying the schedule ofthe room, the scheduling application may check the access level of theuser ID associated with the portable electronic device. The schedulingapplication may check the access level to determine whether the user mayview the schedule, book meetings on the schedule and with what presetresources.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram depicting an information pop-up screen 800of the scheduling application 20 for non-meeting organizers, inaccordance with an illustrative embodiment of the invention. Theinformation pop-up screen 800 details information for a meetingscheduled in the conference room. Upon selecting a booked time period,the pop up screen may detail the room information 801, the timeinformation 802 comprising a starting time and ending time, the name ofthe organizer 803, the subject of the meeting 804, the number ofparticipants in the meeting 805, and other information pertaining to themeeting. The organizer of the meeting may choose which meeting detailsto display on the scheduling application 20 when organizing the meeting.

In another embodiment of the invention, the information pop-up screen801 may display the location for shared documentation, a list of one ormore requested resources, preconfigured room settings and otherinformation.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram depicting an information pop-up screen 900of the scheduling application 20 for meeting organizers, in accordancewith an illustrative embodiment of the invention. The information pop-upscreen 900 details information for a meeting scheduled in the conferenceroom. Upon selecting a booked time period, the pop up screen 900 maydetail the room information 801, the time information 802 comprising astarting time and ending time, the name of the organizer 803, thesubject of the meeting 804, the number of participants in the meeting805, and other information pertaining to the meeting.

In an embodiment of the invention, the scheduling application checks theuser ID associated with the portable electronic device with the user IDlisted as the organizer prior to displaying the information pop-upscreen 900. The information pop-up screen 900 comprises additionalinformation and selectable icons if the user ID is listed as one of theorganizers of the meeting.

In addition to the general information, the information pop-up screen900 includes one or more selectable icons for operating a meetingcomprising a “start meeting” selectable icon 901, a “stop meeting”selectable icon 902, a “start record” selectable icon 903, a “pauserecord” selectable icon 904, and a “stop record” selectable icon 905.

The “start meeting” selectable icon 901 allows the organizer to beginthe meeting. Upon receiving a selection of the start meeting button 901,the scheduling application 20 may send one or more control signals tothe preset resources 105 in the conference room. In response toreceiving a selection to start a video and audio call, the schedulingapplication 20 may send a control signal to a video source, such as a TV404 or projector 403, one or more lighting devices 413, one or more HVACdevices 415, and one or more AV devices. For example, the schedulingapplication 20 may send a control signal for the projector screen to belowered, the projector turned on, the lights lowered, and the audio orvideo pass code to be entered.

Upon receiving a selection to start a presentation, the schedulingapplication may send a control signal to a video source to displayshared documentation, to turn on the lights, and to power on a localcomputer or networked computer with the shared document.

Depending upon implementation, other control commands are contemplatedby the present invention.

Additionally, in response to receiving a selection of the start icon901, the scheduling application 20 may communicate with the schedulingserver 15 to alert the scheduling server 15 that the meeting has startedand that the room is not available for other meetings. In the absence ofsuch a communication, after a predetermined amount of time, thescheduling server 15 may allow the conference room to be reserved byother users.

The “stop meeting” selectable icon 902 allows the organizer to stop themeeting. Upon receiving a selection of the stop meeting button 902, thescheduling application 20 may send one or more control signals to thepreset resources 105 in the conference room. In response to receiving aselection to stop a video and audio call, the scheduling application 20may send a control signal to a video source such as a TV or projector.For example, the scheduling application may send a control signal forthe projector screen to be raised, the projector powered down, thelights raised, and the audio or video call to be terminated.

Upon receiving a selection to stop a presentation, the schedulingapplication may send a control signal to a video source to stopdisplaying shared documentation, to turn off one or more lights and topower down a local or networked computer with the shared document.

Depending upon implementation, other control commands are contemplatedby the present invention.

Additionally, in response to receiving a selection of the stop icon, thescheduling application may communicate with the scheduling server toalert the scheduling server that the meeting has ended and that the roomis not available for other meetings. This is especially advantageous formeetings that have ended early.

In an embodiment of the invention, the “start meeting” icon 901 and the“stop meeting” icon 902 are the same icon. For example, the selectableicon may be a binary icon whose state depends on the state of themeeting. When the meeting is progressing, the icon functions as a “stopmeeting” icon and when the meeting is stopped, the icon functions as a“start meeting” icon. The icon may be displayed differently depending onthe state of the icon.

In embodiments of the invention, in which the conference room isequipped with a presentation or lecture capture device 412, the “startrecord”, “stop record” and “pause record” selectable icons 903, 904, 905allow for the user to control recording via the portable electronicdevice 13. The portable electronic device 13 may communicate with thelecture capture device 412 via communication with the control server orvia the scheduling server 15.

The “start record” selectable icon 903 allows the organizer to beginrecording the meeting. Upon receiving a selection of the start recordselectable icon 903, the scheduling application 20 may send one or morecontrol signals to the presentation capture device 412 in the conferenceroom to start recording. Upon receiving a selection of the pause recordselectable icon 904, the scheduling application 20 may send one or morecontrol signals to the presentation capture device 412 in the conferenceroom to pause recording. Upon receiving a selection of the stop recordselectable icon 905, the scheduling application 20 may send one or morecontrol signals to the presentation capture device 412 in the conferenceroom to conclude recording the meeting. Additionally, in response to aselection of the stop record selectable icon 902, the schedulingapplication 20 may send one or more control signals to the presentationcapture device 412 to upload to the recording to a media serveraccording to preferences associated with the user ID.

In an embodiment of the invention, the information pop-up screen mayalso display control settings for other devices such as AV resources orlighting resources. The portable electronic device 13 may communicatewith the AV resources via communication with the control server throughthe communication network or via the scheduling server 15.

In an embodiment of the invention, the “start recording” icon 903 andthe “stop recording” icon 905 are the same icon. For example, theselectable icon may be a binary icon whose state depends on the state ofthe meeting. When the meeting is progressing, the icon functions as a“stop recording” icon and when the meeting is stopped, the iconfunctions as a “start recording” icon. The icon may be displayeddifferently depending on the state of the icon.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram depicting a general informationscheduling tab 1001 of the scheduling application 20, in accordance withan illustrative embodiment of the invention. Upon a user selecting oneor more consecutive time periods (e.g., 705, FIG. 7) to book a meeting,the scheduling sub-menu 1000 is displayed, allowing the user to book thearea for a period of time. Alternatively, a user may select the bookmeeting menu 702 displayed on the schedule page 700 (FIG. 7) of thescheduling application 20.

The scheduling menu 1000 comprises three tabs: a general information tab1001, a presets tab 1100, and a people tab 1600. The general informationtab 1001 includes preset parameters 106 associated with generalinformation for the meeting. The preset parameters 106 solicit thesubject of the meeting 1002, the location of the meeting 1003, the dateof the meeting 1004, the start time of the meeting 1005, the end time ofthe meeting 1006 and the recurrence of the meeting 1007. Aside from thesubject preset parameter 1002 and the recurrence preset parameter 1007,the scheduling application 20 fills in preset information 107 accordingto the room, date and time period selected from the calendar by theuser. If the user accessed the scheduling menu from the “Add meeting”button 702, the preset parameters 106 may not be filled in by thescheduling application 20. The user may edit this information 107 fromthe general information tab 1001.

The responses to the preset parameters 106 are preset information 107that may be used to associate with resources. The associated resourcesare preset resources 105 that are reserved for the meeting. Theresources are conference room resources such as the conference room 101itself and conference room devices 102 or other type of resources thatare programmable depending upon the various aspects of the teachings ofthe present invention. In this example, the resource may be a conferenceroom A113 for the meeting.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram depicting a presets tab 1100 of thescheduling application 20 for a discussion, in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention. The preset parameters 106displayed in the presets tab 1100 are associated with the conferencetype 108. The preset parameters 106 include the type of meeting 108 suchas discussion 1102, presentation 1103, audio call 1104, video call 1105,and audio and video call 1106. The preset parameters 106 may alsoinclude a “welcome message” 1107 and “image source” 1108 for sharingand/or displaying.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram depicting a presets tab 1100 of thescheduling application 20 for a presentation 1103, in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention. For each meeting type 108,there may be another set of preset parameters 106 displayed in theconference type section of the tab. For example, if the user selects a“presentation” meeting type 1103, the preset parameter 106 includesshared document 1201 as shown in FIG. 12. This shared document 1201 isavailable for the presentation 1103. The preset information 107 obtainedfrom the preset parameter 106 is associated with a need for a computer405, lighting system 413, and projector 402 for the presentation 1103type of meeting. The portable electronic device 13 may automaticallysend at least one command to turn on the lights in the conference roomand power on the computer and projector 402 to display the shareddocument. In this example, the user will save setup time because theuser will not have to turn on the lights or setup the computer andprojector 402 to display the shared file since this will be doneautomatically. Moreover, the shared file 1201 is shared with theconference participants and therefore saves the user the time and effortof emailing every participant the file.

In another embodiment, the user selects the “Audio Call” type 1104 ofconference, another set of preset parameters 106 are displayed on thescreen as shown in FIG. 13. The displayed preset parameters 106 includethe shared document 1201, phone number 1301, and passcode 1302 foraccess into the audio call 1104. In this particular example, theconference room resources associated with an audio call 1104 are acomputer 405, speaker phone 401, lighting system 413, projector 402 andprojector screen 403. At the start time of the conference, the portableelectronic device 13 sends at least one command to power on the lightingsystem 413 and projector 402, lowers the projector screen 403, displaythe shared file on to the projector screen 403, and dials into the audiocall 1104 using the phone number and passcode. The user comes to theconference room without having to setup the audio call.

In another embodiment, the user selects the “Video Call” type 1105 ofconference, another set of preset parameters 106 are displayed on thescreen as shown in FIG. 14. The displayed preset parameters 106 includethe shared document 1201 and video number 1401. In this particularexample, the conference room resources are computers 405, webcams, HDcameras 409, headsets, projector screen 403, lighting system 413, andconference room microphones. At the start time of the conference, theportable electronic device 13 sends at least one command to power on thevarious preset resources, adjust the lighting system, dial the videonumber, and lower the projector screen 403. The user comes to theconference room without having to setup the video call. The videoconnection is established for the video call.

In another embodiment, the user selects the “Video and Audio Call” type1106 of conference, another set of preset parameters 106 are displayedon the screen as shown in FIG. 15. The displayed preset parameters 106include the shared document 1201, phone number 1301, passcode 1302, andvideo number 1401. Based on the present information 107 that is receivedfrom the user in response to the preset parameters 106, the schedulingapplication 20 associates the preset parameter 106 with the requiredconference room resources. In this particular example, the conferenceroom resources are computers 405, speakerphones, lighting system 413,projector 402 and projector screen 403, webcams, HD cameras 409,headsets (not shown), and conference room microphones (not shown). Atthe start time of the conference, the portable electronic device 13sends at least one command to power on the various preset resources,adjust the lighting system, dial the video number, and lower theprojector screen 403. The user arrives in the conference room withouthaving to setup the video call.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram depicting a people tab 1600 of thescheduling application 20, in accordance with an illustrative embodimentof the invention. The people tab 1600 may display preset parameters 106of required users 1601 and optional users 1602. The user may enter thenames of participants to be invited to the meeting. Advantageously, viaintegration with email system of the area, participants may be emailed arequest for the meeting.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart 1700 showing steps for performing a method ofaccessing a conference room schedule, in accordance with an illustrativeembodiment of the invention. In step 1701, a user positions the portableelectronic device 13 such that the NFC interface is in communicationrange with the NFC tag 11. The user may tap a surface of the phone nearthe NFC tag 11 or position the NFC interface of the portable electronicdevice 13 to within a range of approximately two to four centimeters ofthe NFC tag 11.

In step 1702, the portable electronic device 13 reads the informationencoded on the NFC tag 11, such as the application identifier 113, andthe room or location address 115 over an NFC communication channel 111.The room or location address 115 may be a URL of the scheduling server15. Upon placing the portable electronic device 13 within NFCcommunication range of the NFC tag 11, the NFC interface of the portableelectronic device 13 creates an electromagnetic field, therebyenergizing the NFC tag 11. The NFC tag 11 is configured for manipulatingthe generated electromagnetic field according to the encoded informationvia load modulation. The NFC interface of the portable electronic device13 reads the encoded information from the modulated electromagneticfield.

In embodiments of the invention in which the NFC tag 11 encodesinformation in addition to the application identifier 113 and the serverURL for the room the NFC interface reads this information from the NFCtag 11, as well.

In step 1703, the smart phone loads the scheduling application 20according to the application identifier 113. The application identifier113 read from the NFC tag 11, instructs the portable electronic device13 which scheduling application 20 to launch.

In step 1704, upon launching the scheduling application 20, thescheduling application 20 is configured for establishing communicationwith the scheduling server 15 according to the URL encoded on the NFCtag 11. The scheduling application 20 may communicate the user IDassociated with the scheduling application 20 to the scheduling server15 thereby allowing the scheduling server 15 to determine the identityand location of the user.

In step 1705, the scheduling application 20 displays a calendar of theschedule application according to the address of the conference roomreceived via the NFC tag 11. The schedule may be displayed as aspreadsheet containing one or more columns corresponding to one or moredays and rows corresponding to one or more time periods, such as fifteenminute increments. Time periods in which the conference room is bookedmay be highlighted a first color such as red and time periods in whichthe conference room is available may be displayed as not highlighted.Additionally, information concerning the event for which a room isbooked may be listed in the relevant cell.

In step 1706, the scheduling application 20 receives on or more inputsfor reserving a conference room. From the calendar page of thescheduling application 20, a user may book the room during an availabletime period by selecting the time period. The user may select the timeperiod by selecting one or more cells from the scheduling application 20or from a scheduling content page which the scheduling application 20may display.

In step 1707, the scheduling application 20 displays one or more presetparameters for receiving preset information detailing the meeting. Thescheduling content page may comprise one or more fields to determine oneor more of the following: date of the event, the start time of theevent, the end time of the event, a title of the event, the number ofattendees of the event, the name of the event, shared documentation forthe event, resources required for the event, presets for the resources,and environmental conditions for event.

In step 1708, the scheduling application 20 receives one or more presetinformation detailing the meeting. For example, the schedulingapplication 20 may receive the start time and end time of the meeting,the subject of the meeting, the recurrence of the meeting, participantsin the meeting, the type of meeting and conference informationassociated with the meeting, a welcome message and an image.

Additionally, the user may access a search content page (503, FIG. 5)which will allow a user to search for an available conference room. Thesearch may be dependent on one or more of the following: date of theevent, start time of the event, end time of the event, number ofattendees, and required resources.

Further from the scheduling application 20, the user may start themeeting and end a meeting early. For example, the scheduling application20 may recognize the user ID of the portable electronic device 13 andthe location of the NFC tag 11 and at an appropriate time display aselectable item for starting the meeting. While the meeting is inprogress, the scheduling application 20 may then display a selectableicon for ending the meeting.

FIG. 18 shows an exemplary embodiment of a system 100 for managing aconference room schedule in accordance with an illustrative embodimentof the present invention. It should be noted that the exemplaryembodiment of system 100 illustrated in FIG. 18 may be varied in one ormore aspects without departing from the spirit and scope of theteachings disclosed herein.

In this embodiment, the identification unit comprises one or more RFbeacons 18. The one or more RF beacons 18 may be configured forcommunicating via Bluetooth 4.0 protocols. Specifically, the RF beacons18 may utilize Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy protocol to broadcastinformation.

The RF beacons 18 periodically broadcast information comprising theirbeacon ID 185 and an application identifier 113. The beacon ID 185 maybe an identification number independent of location, such as networkaddress, or may be a location such as coordinates or a room address.There are advantages associated with each of these schemes. Bybroadcasting beacon ID 185 as a location, the portable electronic device13 does not need to match an identity with a location. Accordingly, nolookup tables associating an address to a location need be stored by theportable electronic device. However, each beacon must then be dedicatedto a certain location or configured to broadcast a different location asa beacon ID 185 upon redeployment.

Contrastingly, by broadcasting a network address as a beacon ID 185, thelocation need not be programmed on the RF beacon and the beacons 18 maybe relocated after deployment without reprogramming the beacon. However,the scheduling application may then require a lookup table indexingaddress with location.

In an embodiment of the invention, the beacon ID 185 is the room address115 (i.e. scheduling server address). In this embodiment, the schedulingapplication may then be configured to match scheduling server addresswith a room to determine location. For example, the schedulingapplication may comprise a lookup table listing scheduling serveraddresses by location in the facility. In another embodiment of theinvention, each RF beacon 18 is configured for transmitting both abeacon ID 185 and a scheduling server address 115.

Preferably, a plurality of RF beacons 18 are placed strategicallythroughout a structure to enable the portable electronic device to be incommunication range with three RF beacons 18 at any time. In thisembodiment, the system comprises at least three RF beacons 18.Advantageously, this allows for estimation of location to a point usingtrilateration. In other embodiments, with less than three RF beacons 18,location may be estimated within a range.

However, it should be noted that the system may comprise less than threeRF beacons 18. The particular layout of a structure may only requirethat a portable electronic device be in communication with one or two RFbeacons 18 to accurately determine in which room or location theportable electronic device is located.

The personal area network interface of the portable electronic device 13is configured for determining the received signal strength of eachreceived beacon broadcast. For example, the personal area networkinterface may measure signal strength of broadcasts by received signalstrength indicator (RSSI). By utilizing the received signal strength ofeach beacon, the portable electronic device 13 may estimate its distanceto each beacon 18. The scheduling application 20 may comprise a lookuptable indexing distances from beacon to RSSI. Accordingly, by mappingthe beacon ID 185 to a location in the facility and by determining itsdistance to one or more beacons 18, the portable electronic device 13may determine its location in a facility.

FIG. 19 shows a schematic of a facility with a plurality of rooms, eachcomprising an RF beacon 18 a-n, according to an illustrative embodimentof the invention. For example, the facility may be a corporate buildingcomprising offices and conference rooms. An RF beacon 18 a-n is placedin each room of the facility. The RF beacon 18 a-n may be placed in acommon location such as a light switch or touch panel or may be placedin a remote location out of view. Each RF beacon 18 a-n periodically,transmits its beacon ID 185, the application identifier 113 and in someembodiments, the scheduling server address 115. The portable electronicdevice 13 periodically listens for RF beacon transmissions. Thescheduling application 20 determines a first distance 181, a seconddistance 182 and a third distance 183 to a first RF beacon 18 a, asecond RF beacon 18 b, and a third RF beacon 18 c, respectively.Preferably, the scheduling application 20 determines the first distance181, the second distance 182 and the third distance 183 with the threeRF beacons 18 a-c with the strongest received signal according to RSSI.The scheduling application 20 may determine its location by calculatingthe intersection of a first range with the first distance 181 as aradius, a second range with the second distance 182 as a radius, and athird range with the third distance 183 as a radius. By strategicallyplacing RF beacons 18 a-n throughout a facility, the portable electronicdevice 13 may determine its location throughout the facility byperiodically calculating its range to any three RF beacons 18 a-n.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart 2000 showing steps for performing a methodmanaging a conference room schedule via communication with an RF beacon18, according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention. In step2001, a user positions the portable electronic device 13 such that thePAN interface is in communication range with a first RF beacon 18 a, asecond RF beacon 18 b, and a third RF beacon 18 c. The user may positionthe portable electronic device 13 by simply walking within whilecarrying the portable electronic device.

In step 2002, the portable electronic device 13 receives the informationbroadcast by the first RF beacon 18 a, second RF beacon 18 b, and thirdRF beacon 18 c, such as the application identifier 113 and each beaconID 185. In embodiments of the invention, each RF beacon additionallybroadcasts a URL for accessing the schedule of the location on ascheduling server.

In step 2003, the portable electronic device 13 loads the schedulingapplication 20 according to the application identifier 113. Theapplication identifier 113 received from the RF beacons 18, instructsthe portable electronic device 13 which scheduling application 20 tolaunch.

In step 2004, the scheduling application 20 estimates a distance to theRF beacon 18. By utilizing the received signal strength of each beacon18, the scheduling application 20 may determine its distance from eachRF beacon 18. In an embodiment of the invention, the PAN interface ofthe portable electronic device 13 measures the RSSI of each receivedbroadcast and utilizes a lookup table listing distance to beacon by RSSIto determine a distance to the RF beacon 18.

In another embodiment of the invention, the PAN interface may comparethe ratio of received signal strength to broadcast signal strength todetermine a distance to the beacons 18. In this embodiment, thebroadcast signal strength of the RF beacon 18 may be a known quantity.In another embodiment of the invention, the RF beacon 18 broadcasts thisquantity.

In this embodiment, the portable electronic device 13 continueslistening until receiving a broadcast from three RF beacons 18 a-c. Inembodiments in which more than three beacons 18 are in range, thescheduling application 20 may use the three strongest received signals.Additionally, the scheduling application 20 may use the identity andsignal strength of additional RF beacons 18 as an error check orredundancy. The scheduling application 20 repeats steps 2004 for each ofthe RF beacons 18 thereby estimating a range to at least three RFbeacons 18.

In step 2005, the scheduling application 20 determines its locationaccording to the location information received from the RF beacons 18via trilateration. The position of each RF beacon 18 is known by thescheduling application 20 as well as an estimated distance to at leastthree RF beacons 18, the scheduling application 20 may determine itslocation in coordinates. By determining the intersection point of thethree ranges to three RF beacons 18, the scheduling application 20 maydetermine the location of the portable electronic device 13.

The scheduling application 20 maps to a floor plan of the facility todetermine a location by room or area. By mapping the location to a floorplan, the scheduling application may know which room the portableelectronic device, and therefore the user, is located.

In step 2006, upon launching the scheduling application 20, thescheduling application 20 is configured for establishing communicationwith the scheduling server 15 according to a URL of the room stored bythe scheduling application 20 or received from the RF beacon 18. Thescheduling application 20 may communicate the user ID associated withthe scheduling application 20 to the scheduling server 15 therebyallowing the scheduling server 15 to determine the identity and locationof the user.

However as will be discussed in reference to FIG. 21, in certainembodiments the portable electronic device 13 may not be configured tocommunicate via the communication network 104 (FIG. 18). In theseapplications, the one or more RF beacons 18 may act as an intermediarygateway between the portable electronic device 13 and the controlprocessor 40/42.

In step 2007, the scheduling application 20 displays a schedule of theschedule application 20 according to the location of the portableelectronic device 13. The schedule may be displayed as a spreadsheetcontaining one or more columns corresponding to one or more days androws corresponding to one or more time periods, such as fifteen minuteincrements. Time periods in which the conference room is booked may behighlighted a first color such as red and time periods in which theconference room is available may be displayed as not highlighted.Additionally, information concerning the event for which a room isbooked may be listed in the relevant cell.

In step 2008, the scheduling application 20 receives on or more inputsfor reserving a conference room. From the calendar page of thescheduling application 20, a user may book the room during an availabletime period by selecting the time period. The user may select the timeperiod by selecting one or more cells from the scheduling application 20or from a scheduling content page which the scheduling application 20may display.

In step 2009, the scheduling application 20 displays one or more presetparameters 106 for receiving preset information 107 detailing themeeting. The scheduling content page may comprise one or more fields todetermine one or more of the following: date of the event, the starttime of the event, the end time of the event, a title of the event, thenumber of attendees of the event, the name of the event, shareddocumentation for the event, resources required for the event, presetsfor the resources, and environmental conditions for event.

In step 2010, the scheduling application 20 receives one or more presetinformation 107 detailing the meeting. For example, the schedulingapplication 20 may receive the start time and end time of the meeting,the subject of the meeting, the recurrence of the meeting, participantsin the meeting, the type of meeting and conference informationassociated with the meeting, a welcome message and an image.

Additionally, the user may access a search content page which will allowa user to search for an available conference room. The search may bedependent on one or more of the following: date of the event, start timeof the event, end time of the event, number of attendees, and requiredresources.

Further from the scheduling application 20, the user may start themeeting and end a meeting early. For example, the scheduling application20 may recognize the user ID and location of the portable electronicdevice 13 and at an appropriate time display a selectable item forstarting the meeting. While the meeting is in progress, the schedulingapplication 20 may then display a selectable icon for ending themeeting.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing steps for performing a method formanaging a conference room schedule via communication with an RF beacon18, according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

In certain embodiments the portable electronic device 13 may not beconfigured to communicate via the communication network 104. In theseapplications, the one or more RF beacons 18 may act as an intermediarygateway between the portable electronic device 13 and the controlprocessor 40/42.

In this method, steps 2001, 2003-2005, 2007-2010 are performed insubstantially the same manner as in the method shown in FIG. 20.

In step 2102, the portable electronic device 13 receives the informationbroadcast by the first RF beacon 18 a, second RF beacon 18 b, and thirdRF beacon 18 c, such as the application identifier 113 and each beaconID 185. In contrast to the method shown in FIG. 20, the RF beacon 18does not broadcast and the portable electronic device 13 need notreceive a URL for the scheduling server 15.

In step 2106 a, upon launching the scheduling application 20, thescheduling application 20 pairs the portable electronic device 13 to thenearest RF beacon 18 using RF communication protocols such as Bluetoothcommunication protocols. The scheduling application 20 may determine thenearest RF beacon 18 based on signal strength of the received broadcastor by looking up the nearest RF beacon 18 to its location from a storeddirectory.

In step 2106 b, the scheduling application 20 may communicate the userID associated with the scheduling application 20 to the paired RF beacon18 which in turn may communicate to the scheduling server 15 therebyallowing the scheduling server 15 to determine the identity and locationof the user. The RF beacon 18 and the scheduling server 15 maycommunicate via a LAN or PAN.

FIGS. 22A-22B is a flowchart 2200 a-b showing steps for performing amethod of accessing a conference room schedule, in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention. In step 2201, a user positionsthe portable electronic device 13 such that the NFC interface is incommunication range with the NFC tag 11. The user may tap a surface ofthe phone near the NFC tag 11 or position the NFC interface of theportable electronic device 13 to within a range of approximately two tofour centimeters of the NFC tag 11.

In step 2202, the portable electronic device 13 reads the informationencoded on the NFC tag 11, such as the application identifier 113, andURL 115 of the scheduling server 15, over an NFC communication channel111. Upon placing the portable electronic device 13 within NFCcommunication range of the NFC tag 11, the NFC interface of the portableelectronic device 13 creates an electromagnetic field, therebyenergizing the NFC tag 11. The NFC tag 11 is configured for manipulatingthe generated electromagnetic field according to the encoded informationvia load modulation. The NFC interface of the portable electronic device13 reads the encoded information from the modulated electromagneticfield.

In embodiments of the invention in which the NFC tag 11 encodesinformation in addition to the application identifier 113 and the serverURL 115 the NFC interface reads this information from the NFC tag 11, aswell.

In step 2203, the smart phone 13 loads the scheduling application 20according to the application identifier 113. The application identifier113 read from the NFC tag 11, instructs the portable electronic device13 which scheduling application 20 to launch.

In step 2204, upon launching the scheduling application 20, thescheduling application 20 is configured for establishing communicationwith the scheduling server 15 according to the URL 115 encoded on theNFC tag 11. The scheduling application 20 may communicate the user IDassociated with the scheduling application 20 to the scheduling server15 thereby allowing the scheduling server to determine the identity andlocation of the user.

In step 2205, the scheduling application 20 checks the access of theuser ID associated with the scheduling application 20. The schedulingapplication 20 may check against a database to determine whether theuser may view the schedule of that area, book meetings on the scheduleof the area and with what preset resources and the role of the user IDin any meetings scheduled for the area.

If the user ID associated with the scheduling application 20 does nothave access to view the schedule of the area, in step 2206, thescheduling application 20 displays an error page.

If the user ID associated with the scheduling application 20 does havepermission to view the schedule of the area but not to manage it, instep 2207, the scheduling application 20 displays the schedule of thearea without selectable time periods allowing to schedule a meeting. Forexample, the schedule may be a view only schedule or may allow the userto select meetings to view information about the meetings. The user willnot, however, be presented with selectable time periods.

If the user ID associated with the scheduling application 20 does havepermission to view the schedule of the area and permission to manage it,in step 2208, the scheduling application 20 displays the schedule of thearea with selectable time periods allowing to schedule a meeting.

In step 2209, the scheduling application 20 receives one or more inputsselecting a meeting from the schedule. From the calendar page of thescheduling application 20, a user may select one of the selectable timeperiods with a meeting status indicator.

If the user ID is not an organizer of the meeting, as determined by theaccess of the user ID, in step 2210, the scheduling application 20displays a pop-up menu with meeting information such as in FIG. 8. Theuser may view information about the meeting comprising the organizer,the subject, the start and end time, the date and the attendees.

If the user ID is an organizer of the meeting, as determined by theaccess of the user ID, in step 2211, the scheduling application 20displays a pop-up menu with meeting information and selectable icons forstarting a meeting 901 and ending a meeting 902 such as in FIG. 9.

As will be discussed in reference to step 2216, if the meeting comprisesthe preset resource of a presentation or lecture capture device, thescheduling application 20 displays a pop menu further comprisingselectable icons to start recording 903, pause recording 904, and stoprecording 905, such as in FIG. 9.

In step 2212, the scheduling application 20 receives a selection tostart the meeting. For example, a user may select a “start meeting” icon901 of the pop-up menu page 900 in FIG. 9.

In step 2213, the scheduling application 20 transmits one or morecontrol signals in response to receiving a selection of the “startmeeting” icon 901.

In step 2214, the scheduling application 20 receives a selection to stopthe meeting. For example, a user may select a “stop meeting” icon 902 ofthe pop-up menu page 900 in FIG. 9.

In step 2215, the scheduling application 20 transmits one or morecontrol signals in response to receiving a selection of the “stopmeeting” icon 902.

In step 2216, if the meeting comprises the preset resource of apresentation or lecture capture device, the scheduling application 20displays a pop menu 900 further comprising selectable icons to startrecording 903, pause recording 904, and stop recording 905, such as inFIG. 9.

In step 2217, the scheduling application 20 receives a selection tostart recording the meeting. For example, a user may select a “startrecording” icon 903 of the pop-up menu page 900 in FIG. 9.

In step 2218, the scheduling application 20 transmits one or morecontrol signals in response to receiving a selection of the “startrecording” icon 903.

In step 2219, the scheduling application 20 receives a selection to stoprecording the meeting. For example, a user may select a “stop recording”icon 905 of the pop-up menu page 900 in FIG. 9.

In step 2220, the scheduling application 20 transmits one or morecontrol signals in response to receiving a selection of the “stoprecording” icon 905.

FIGS. 23A-B is a flowchart 2300 a-b showing steps for performing amethod of accessing a conference room schedule, in accordance with anillustrative embodiment of the invention. In step 2301, a user positionsthe portable electronic device 13 such that the PAN interface is incommunication range with a first RF beacon 18 a, a second RF beacon 18b, and a third RF beacon 18 c. The user may position the portableelectronic device 13 by simply walking within while carrying theportable electronic device 13.

In step 2302, the portable electronic device 13 receives the informationbroadcast by the first RF beacon 18 a, second RF beacon 18 b, and thirdRF beacon 18 c, such as the application identifier 113 and each beaconID 185.

In step 2303, the portable electronic device 13 loads the schedulingapplication 20 according to the application identifier 113. Theapplication identifier 113 received from the RF beacons 18, instructsthe portable electronic device 13 which scheduling application 20 tolaunch.

In step 2304, the scheduling application 20 estimates a distance to atleast three RF beacons 18 a-c. By utilizing the received signal strengthof each beacon 18, the scheduling application may determine its distancefrom each RF beacon 18. In an embodiment of the invention, the PANinterface of the portable electronic device 13 measures the RSSI of eachreceived broadcast and utilizes a lookup table listing distance tobeacon by RSSI to determine a distance to the RF beacon 18.

In this embodiment, the portable electronic device 13 continueslistening until receiving a transmission from three RF beacons 18 a-c.In embodiments in which more than three beacons 18 are in range, thescheduling application 20 may use the three strongest received signals.Additionally, the scheduling application 20 may use the identity andsignal strength of additional RF beacons 18 as an error check orredundancy. The scheduling application 20 repeats steps 2304 for each ofthe RF beacons 18 thereby estimating a range to at least three RFbeacons 18.

In step 2305, the scheduling application 20 determines its locationaccording to the location information received from the RF beacons 18via trilateration. The position of each RF beacon 18 is known as well asan estimated distance to at least three RF beacons 18, the schedulingapplication 20 may determine its location by coordinates. By determiningthe intersection point of the three ranges to three RF beacons 18, thescheduling application 20 may determine the location of the portableelectronic device 13.

The scheduling application 20 maps to a floor plan of the facility todetermine a location by room. By mapping the location to a floor plan,the scheduling application 20 may know which room the portableelectronic device, and therefore the user, is located.

In step 2306, upon launching the scheduling application 20, thescheduling application 20 is configured for establishing communicationwith the scheduling server 15 according to the URL received from the RFbeacon. The scheduling application 20 may communicate the user IDassociated with the scheduling application 20 to the scheduling server15 thereby allowing the scheduling server 15 to determine the identityand location of the user.

In step 2307, the scheduling application 20 checks the access of theuser ID associated with the scheduling application 20. The schedulingapplication 20 may check against a database to determine whether theuser may view the schedule of that area, book meetings on the scheduleof the area and with what preset resources and the role of the user IDin any meetings scheduled for the area.

If the user ID associated with the scheduling application 20 does nothave access to view the schedule of the area, in step 2308, thescheduling application 20 displays an error page.

If the user ID associated with the scheduling application 20 does havepermission to view the schedule of the area but not to manage it, instep 2309, the scheduling application 20 displays the schedule of thearea without selectable time periods allowing to schedule a meeting. Forexample, the schedule may be a view only schedule or may allow the userto select meetings to view information about the meetings. The user willnot, however, be presented with selectable time periods.

If the user ID associated with the scheduling application 20 does havepermission to view the schedule of the area and permission to manage it,in step 2310, the scheduling application 20 displays the schedule of thearea with selectable time periods allowing to schedule a meeting.

In step 2311, the scheduling application 20 receives one or more inputsselecting a meeting from the schedule. From the calendar page of thescheduling application 20, a user may select one of the selectable timeperiods with a meeting status indicator.

If the user ID is not an organizer of the meeting, as determined by theaccess of the user ID, in step 2312, the scheduling application 20displays a pop-up menu with meeting information such as in FIG. 8. Theuser may view information about the meeting comprising the organizer,the subject, the start and end time, the date and the attendees.

If the user ID is an organizer of the meeting, as determined by theaccess of the user ID, in step 2313, the scheduling application 20displays a pop-up menu with meeting information and selectable icons forstarting a meeting and ending a meeting such as in FIG. 9.

As will be discussed in reference to step 2318, if the meeting comprisesthe preset resource of a presentation or lecture capture device, thescheduling application 20 displays a pop menu further comprisingselectable icons to start recording, pause recording, and stoprecording.

In step 2314, the scheduling application 20 receives a selection tostart the meeting. For example, a user may select a “start meeting” iconof the pop-up menu page.

In step 2315, the scheduling application 20 transmits one or morecontrol signals in response to receiving a selection of the “startmeeting” icon.

In step 2316, the scheduling application 20 receives a selection to stopthe meeting. For example, a user may select a “stop meeting” icon of thepop-up menu page.

In step 2317, the scheduling application 20 transmits one or morecontrol signals in response to receiving a selection of the “stopmeeting” icon.

In step 2318, if the meeting comprises the preset resource of apresentation or lecture capture device, the scheduling application 20displays a pop menu further comprising selectable icons to startrecording, pause recording, and stop recording.

In step 2319, the scheduling application 20 receives a selection tostart recording the meeting. For example, a user may select a “startrecording” icon of the pop-up menu page.

In step 2320, the scheduling application 20 transmits one or morecontrol signals in response to receiving a selection of the “startrecording” icon.

In step 2321, the scheduling application 20 receives a selection to stoprecording the meeting. For example, a user may select a “stop recording”icon of the pop-up menu page.

In step 2322, the scheduling application 20 transmits one or morecontrol signals in response to receiving a selection of the “stoprecording” icon.

In addition to scheduling meeting rooms, the systems of the presentembodiments leverage short range communication technologies, such asNear Field Communication and Bluetooth, to enable enterprise end usersto easily and quickly utilize their portable electronic devices 13, suchas smartphones, to connect to and efficiently utilize devices orequipment located within one or more areas in a facility, such asconference room devices 102 in meeting room 101 in a corporate facility(FIGS. 1 and 18). One or more portable electronic devices 13, such as asmartphone, can pair with one or more meeting room devices 102 via oneor more beacons 18 (or NFC tags 11) allowing the enterprise end user toutilize and control the resources provided in the meeting room. The oneor more beacons 18 are configured to broadcast information viashort-range communication. The end user's portable electronic device 13comprises one or more software applications configured for reading thebroadcasted information, using that information to pair with the meetingroom devices or equipment 102, and allowing the end users to utilize andcontrol the meeting room devices or equipment 102. These one or moresoftware applications, as well as the scheduling application 20discussed above, can comprise modules of an enterprise meetingapplication designed to enable enterprise end users to efficientlyutilize meeting rooms.

FIG. 24 shows an exemplary embodiment of a system 2400 for enablingenterprise end users to utilize their portable electronic devices 2402,2403 to connect to and utilize presentation facilitating devices orequipment, such as a presentation gateway 2410, located within a meetingroom 2401. Particularly, presentation system 2400 enables livepresentation content sharing between meeting presenter's and meetingattendees' portable electronic devices during a meeting. It should benoted that the exemplary embodiments of presentation system 2400 may bevaried in one or more aspects without departing from the spirit andscope of the teachings disclosed herein. While the embodiments aredescribed herein as being implemented for presentation content sharingduring a business meeting in a commercial conference room, it is notlimited to such an implementation. The present embodiments may beemployed to share presentation content in other venues, facilities, orgatherings where presentation content sharing is desired. For example,system 2400 may be employed within commercial, residential, retail, ornon-profit venue structures, as well as for professional, education,entertainment, and general communication. Presentation content sharingof the present embodiments may be utilized in a small scale conferenceroom with few attendees, during a mid-sized live lecture, or during alarge scale seminar or commercial event with hundreds of attendees.

According to one embodiment, the presentation system 2400 includes apresentation gateway 2410, presenter portable electronic device 2402, ameeting room display 2406, attendee portable electronic device 2403, andone or more radio frequency beacons 2404 located within a meeting room2401.

Aspects of the embodiments described herein provide cross-platformpresentation system 2400 that eases presentations by using networkconnections to allow presenters to share their presentation contentwithout dealing with physical connection to the meeting room display orequipment. The presentation system 2400 quickly and simply pairs thepresenter portable electronic device 2402 and attendee portableelectronic device 2403 with the presentation gateway 2410 via one ormore radio frequency beacons 2404. The presentation system 2400 providesan enhanced collaborative environment. It allows a meeting presenter topresent presentation content 2414 from the presenter portable electronicdevice 2402 on a meeting room display 2406. A presenter utilizes thepresentation system 2400 described herein to present presentationcontent 2414 on a meeting room display 2406 during a meeting, such as ona display screen in a conference room in a corporate facility, bypairing the presenter portable electronic device 2402 with thepresentation gateway 2410.

System 2400 further allows meeting attendees to view the presentationcontent 2414 at their portable electronic devices 2403, as well as toannotate, manipulate, and further share the presentation content duringa meeting. A meeting attendee can view the presentation content 2414 onany portable electronic device 2403 substantially in synch with thepresentation displayed on the meeting room display 2406 by pairing theattendee portable electronic device 2403 with the presentation gateway2410. In other words, the displayed image on the portable electronicdevice 2403 “mirrors” the image on the meeting room display 2406. Anynumber of second screen devices can view the image at the same time. Themeeting presenter and/or the attendee can further manipulate thepresentation content 2414, such as by annotating, zooming, stretching,pausing, rotating, viewing previous slides, saving, among other featuresfurther described herein.

Presentation system 2400 may further comprise remote servers foradditional processing and functionality. For example, presentationsystem 2400 can include an enterprise server 2412, which can incorporatethe scheduling server 15 described above, for enabling room schedulingand allocation of room resources, such as the presentation gateway 2410.Presentation system 2400 can further include a calendar server 2416 forreceiving user's calendar information. In an embodiment, calendar server2416 can be integrated with the enterprise server 2412. Portableelectronic devices 2402, 2403 and presentation gateway 2410 cancommunicate with one or more remote servers via the communicationnetwork 2417. Communication network 2417 can comprise similarconfiguration to communication network 104 discussed above, and cancomprise a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet.

Presenter portable electronic device 2402 and attendee portableelectronic device 2403 can comprise any portable electronic device knownin the art, including but not limited to a laptop computer, asmartphone, a tablet, or the like. Presenter portable electronic device2402 and attendee portable electronic device 2403 can comprise similarconstruction as portable electronic device 13 shown in FIG. 2 anddescribed above. Portable electronic devices 2402, 2403 may comprise oneor more software applications, including an enterprise meetingapplication 2600, discussed below with reference to FIG. 26, forenabling users to pair with one or more meeting room devices, such asthe presentation gateway 2410. The enterprise meeting application 2600can comprise a presentation application 2601 for enabling users to sharepresentation content 2414 via the presentation gateway 2410. Thepresentation application 2601 can be a stand-alone application, or itcan be a module of the enterprise meeting application 2600.

Devices 2402 and 2403 are paired with the presentation gateway 2410 bymeans of one or more beacons 2404 to share presentation content 2414 asdescribed in further detail below. Beacons 2404 communicate with theportable electronic devices 2402, 2403 via short-range communication2411, which can comprise any short-range communication standard known inthe art, such as Bluetooth Low Energy communication standard, NFCcommunication standard, or other short-range communication standardsknown in the art or later discovered.

After pairing, portable electronic devices 2402, 2403 can wirelesslycommunicate with the presentation gateway 2410 via a wireless local areanetwork (WLAN) 2408 to share the presentation content 2414. The wirelesslocal area network 2408 can comprise a Wi-Fi network or a relatedstandard. In one embodiment, the presentation gateway 2410 can comprisea wireless network access point such that portable electronic devices2402, 2403 can directly connect to the presentation gateway 2410. Inanother embodiment, portable electronic devices 2402, 2403 can connectto the presentation gateway 2410 via a local area network comprising oneor more wireless gateway devices, such as routers, hubs, gateways, orthe like. The local area network 2408 can be a publically accessiblenetwork, or it can be a secured network, such as a secured corporatenetwork.

The presenter portable electronic device 2402 transmits the presentationcontent 2414 to the presentation gateway 2410. The originatingpresentation content 2414 can comprise various forms of data in a seriesof slides, including but not limited to text, graphics, images,photographs, videos, animation, or the like. For example, theoriginating presentation content 2414 can comprise a PowerPoint®slideshow. In other embodiments, presentation content 2414 can compriseExcel®, Word and PDF documents, as well as a series of photographs.Presentation content 2414 can further comprise audio accompanying thevisual presentation or slideshow. The presentation content 2414 can betransmitted from the presenter portable electronic device 2402 to thepresentation gateway 2410 as a content data stream. The content datastream can include text, graphics, images, photographs, video, audio, orany combination thereof. The content data stream can further compriseone or more commands to control the operation of the presentationgateway 2410. The presenter can view the presentation content 2414 onthe presenter portable electronic device 2402 and navigate through thepresentation content 2414 on the presenter portable electronic device2402 using the presentation application 2601.

Presentation gateway 2410 receives presentation content 2414 from thepresenter portable communication device 2402. Presentation gateway 2410is described in more detail below with reference to FIG. 30.Presentation gateway 2410 can comprise similar configuration to theAM-100 Presentation Gateway available from Crestron Electronics, Inc. ofRockleigh, N.J., which enables wireless presentation of HD content usinglaptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Presentation gateway 2410 processes and transmits the presentationcontent 2414 received from the presenter portable communication device2402 to the meeting room display 2406 located in the meeting room 2401.The meeting room display 2406 can comprise a projector and a projectorscreen, flat-panel display, a television, or the like. Presentationgateway 2410 further transmits the presentation content 2414 to theattendee portable communication device 2403 for viewing.

Referring to FIG. 26, one embodiment of an enterprise meetingapplication 2600, incorporating a presentation application 2601, isshown. As discussed above, the presentation application 2601 may be astandalone application, or it may be a module of an enterprise meetingapplication 2600 containing various application modules 2602, such asthe scheduling application 20 shown in FIG. 4, for performing variousmeeting room functions. Enterprise meeting application 2600 may furthercomprise one or more engines and data storage areas shown in FIG. 4 anddescribed above, including data storage area 201 comprising resourceavailability data storage area 202, resource data storage area 204, userpreference data storage area 218, access data storage area 220, as wellas user registration engine 208, present association engine 210,resource availability verification engine 226, availability data engine212, access engine 216, presentation or display engine 206, resourcerequest and reservation management 222, notification engine 224, userpreference engine 214, control engine 228, and any combination thereof.

Presentation application 2601 may comprise one or more of a presentationcontent image capture engine 2610, image comparison engine 2612,presentation rendering engine 2614, word processing engine 2616, contentcompiling engine 2618, calendar accessing and content retrieving engine2620, and presentation navigating engine 2622.

The presentation content image capture engine 2610 is configured forcapturing images of a presentation content data stream received from thepresentation gateway 2410. The image comparison engine 2612 performsimage processing to compare the captured images so that only updatedimages are displayed to the attendee. The presentation rendering engine2614 is configured for displaying the images to the attendee on theattendee portable electronic device 2403. The word processing engine2616 allows the attendee to annotate the presentation content 2414during the meeting. The content compiling engine 2618 compiles savedpresentation images and any annotations into a compiled presentationdata file. The calendar accessing and content retrieving engine 2620accesses the calendar of the user to access meeting information andretrieve presentation content therefrom. The presentation gatewaycontrol engine 2622 is configured for allowing the presenter portableelectronic device 2402 to send one or more commands to control theoperation of the presentation gateway 2410. The functions of the variousengines of the presentation application 2601 are described in greaterdetail below.

The following section describes the methods of pairing the portableelectronic devices 2402, 2403 to the presentation gateway 2410 via oneor more beacons 2404 according to some aspects of the embodiments.However, the methods described herein can be used to pair portableelectronic devices to other type of devices or equipment located withina meeting room.

The one or more beacons 2404 are configured to broadcast information viashort-range communication 2411, such as Bluetooth Low Energycommunication, NFC communication, or other short-range communication.The beacon 2404 is encoded with various information, which itperiodically broadcasts for enabling one or more portable electronicdevices 2402 to be paired with the meeting room devices, such as thepresentation gateway 2410. FIG. 25 is a visual representation of abeacon 2404 according to an illustrative embodiment. In various aspectsof the embodiments, beacon 2404 may be encoded with one or more of anapplication identifier 2501, a beacon ID 2502, one or more meeting roomdevices network addresses 2503, an enterprise server network address2504, and any combinations thereof.

The application identifier 2501 identifies the application associatedwith the beacon 2404, such as the enterprise meeting application 2600 orpresentation application 2601. In certain embodiments, the applicationidentifier 2501 is encoded according to operating system requirements.For example, in the Android operating system, each program approved tobe offered in the Google Play store requires an application identifier.This application identifier 2501 is understood by the Android operationsystem.

The beacon ID 2502 identifies the beacon 2404 and may comprise auniversally unique identifier (UUID) of the beacon.

The meeting room device network address 2503 identifies the particularmeeting room device associated with the beacon 2404 and located withinthe same meeting room. A meeting room device network address 2503 maycomprise an IP address, a URI address, a URL address, a host name, orthe like, or any combination thereof. A single beacon 2404 may beencoded with network addresses of a plurality of meeting room deviceslocated within the same meeting room. For example, the meeting roomdevice network address 2503 may comprise a presentation gateway networkaddress that identifies the particular presentation gateway 2410associated with the beacon 2404.

The enterprise server network address 2504 identifies the enterpriseserver 2412 associated with the beacon 2404, and may comprise an IPaddress, a URI address, a URL address, a host name, or the like. Invarious aspects of the embodiments, beacon 2404 may be encoded with allthe information shown in FIG. 25, or it may comprise only some of theinformation, such as the application identifier 2501 and the beacon ID2502.

According to one embodiment, system 2400 can comprises a standalone orsemi-standalone system that can operate without or with minimalinteractivity with a central management server, a system processor, suchas system processor 40 or 42, or remote servers, such as an enterpriseserver 2412 and calendar server 2416. Such implementation is useful in asmall scale application where the use of a central management server isimpractical or undesired. The system 2400 can comprise one or moremeeting room devices, such as presentation gateways 2410, and dedicatedbeacons 2404 strategically dispersed throughout a building or a floor.Each meeting room device can be associated with one or more dedicatedbeacons which store the network address of the meeting room device, suchas an IP address, a URI address, a URL address, a host name, or thelike. In one embodiment, one or more dedicated beacons are placed withinthe same meeting room as their associated meeting room devices. Inanother embodiment, a dedicated beacon can be integrated within themeeting room device, such as within the presentation gateway 2410. Thededicated beacon broadcasts an application ID and the network address ofits associated meeting room device. The enterprise meeting application2600 uses the network address to connect the portable communicationdevice 2402, 2403 to the appropriate meeting room device, such as thepresentation gateway 2410.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart 2700 showing a method for paring the presenterportable electronic device 2402 and/or the attendee portable electronicdevice 2403 with a meeting room device, such as a presentation gateway2410, via one or more beacon 2404 of such a standalone orsemi-standalone system according to an illustrative embodiment.

In step 2702, a user positions the portable electronic device 2402, 2403in communication range with a beacon 2404. The user may position theportable electronic device 2402, 2403 by walking within the meeting room2401 while carrying the portable electronic device 2402, 2403. In step2704, the user loads the enterprise meeting application 2600, whichinstructs the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 to scan for anynearby beacons 2404. In step 2606, the portable electronic device 2402,2403 receives the information broadcasted by the beacon 2404. In thecurrent embodiment, the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 receivesthe application identifier 2501 and the meeting room device networkaddress 2503, such as the presentation gateway network address, encodedin the beacon 2404. Upon receiving the application identifier 2501 andthe meeting room device network address 2503 from a beacon in step 2606,the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 provides that information tothe enterprise meeting application 2600 based on the receivedapplication identifier 2501.

After the application is loaded and the broadcasted information from thebeacon is read, the enterprise meeting application 2600 determineswhether any additional beacons are present in step 2708. If the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403 detects the presence of only a singlebroadcasting beacon, in step 2718, the portable electronic device 2402,2403 uses the received meeting room device network address 2503 to pairwith the meeting room device associated with the selected beacon.Particularly, the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 establishescommunication with the meeting room device, such as the presentationgateway 2410, via the local area network 2408.

If there are additional broadcasting beacons detected, in step 2712, theportable electronic device 2402, 2403 receives application identifiersand meeting room device network addresses from the additional beacons.In step 2714, the enterprise meeting application 2600 then estimates thedistance of the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 to each of theplurality of broadcasting beacons. For example, the personal areanetwork interface of the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 isconfigured for measuring the received signal strength of each receivedbeacon broadcast. The enterprise meeting application 2600 may log theRSSI of each measured distances in a table according to signal strength.

In step 2716, the enterprise meeting application 2600 determines thelocation of the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 and selects thebeacon associated with the location. In one embodiment, the enterprisemeeting application 2600 determines the location and selects the beaconby identifying the nearest beacon by comparing the received signalstrengths and identifying the strongest received signal according toRSSI. In step 2718, the enterprise meeting application 2600 uses themeeting room device network address received from the selected beacon(e.g., the nearest beacon) to pair the portable electronic device 2402,2403 with the corresponding meeting room device. In step 2720, theportable electronic device 2402, 2403 communicates with the meeting roomdevice, such as the presentation gateway 2410, via local area network2408. For example, the presenter portable electronic device 2402 cantransmit the presentation content 2414 to the paired presentationgateway 2410, and the attendee portable electronic device 2403 canreceive presentation content from the paired presentation gateway 2410.

According to one embodiment, each meeting room device associated with abeacon, such as the presentation gateway 2410, can comprise a networkaccess point and a built-in web server associated with a unique URLaddress. Each meeting room device, such as the presentation gateway2410, can be associated with one or more beacons 2404 encoded with thecorresponding unique URL address as the meeting room device networkaddress 2503. Upon identifying the nearest beacon, such as beacon 2404,the enterprise meeting application 2600 on the portable communicationdevice 2402, 2403 receives from the beacon 2404 the applicationidentifier 2501 and the associated URL address of the meeting roomdevice. The enterprise meeting application 2600 instructs the portablecommunication device 2402, 2403 to connect to the built-in server of themeeting room device via the unique URL address.

According to some aspects of the embodiments, the enterprise meetingapplication 2600 is automatically loaded on the portable electronicdevice 2402, 2403 once the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 comesin communication proximity with a beacon 2404. FIG. 28 illustrates aflowchart 2800 showing the method of automatically loading and/orinstalling the enterprise meeting application 2600 via a beacon.Referring to FIG. 28, in step 2802, a user positions the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403 in communication range with a beacon 2404.The user may position the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 bywalking within the meeting room 2401 while carrying the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403.

In step 2804, the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 receives theinformation broadcasted by the beacon, such as the applicationidentifier 2501 encoded in the beacon. If after reading the applicationidentifier 2501, the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 determines instep 2806 that the application associated with the applicationidentifier 2501 is not downloaded, in step 2808 the portable electronicdevice 2402, 2403 directs the user to an application marketplace wherethey can download the application associated with the applicationidentifier 2501. For example, the portable electronic device 2402, 2403may load a relevant application page of the iTunes® applicationmarketplace or Google Play application marketplace.

If the enterprise meeting application 2600 associated with theapplication identifier 2501 is already stored on the portable electronicdevice 2402, 2403, in step 2810 the portable electronic device 2402,2403 loads the enterprise meeting application 2600. The applicationidentifier 2501 read from the beacon instructs the portable electronicdevice 2402, 2403 which application to launch. Thus, the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403 loads the enterprise meeting application2600 upon receiving the application identifier 2501.

According to another embodiment, presentation system 2400 can beintegrated into an enterprise-wide system, such as system 100 shown inFIG. 18, and can be connected to the enterprise server 2412, such asscheduling server 15 described above. Presentation system 2400 mayfurther comprise additional servers, including a calendar server 2416for receiving a user's calendar information. Calendar server 2416 can beintegrated with the enterprise server 2412. Such an implementation isuseful in large-scale enterprise control.

As described above, the enterprise server 2412 may store roominformation or record associated with each conference room in anenterprise, such as meeting room 2401. Such room data may include one ormore of the following: the conference room name, a universally uniqueidentifier (UUID) of the room, beacon ID associated with that room,location of the room in a room tree of a building, physical address ofthe building where the room is located, resources available in the room,such as conference room devices 102, maximum capacity of the room, animage of the room, associated calendar information for the room, accessrights information, such as a list of users which have room access,among other type of information. For example, room data for meeting room2401 may include the meeting room name (e.g., “Room A113”), a UUID ofthe meeting room 2401, beacon ID of beacon 2404 located within meetingroom 2401, information that the room is equipped with presentationgateway 2410 and display 2406, and the network address of thepresentation gateway 2410. In such an implementation, the beacon 2404may broadcast an application identifier and its beacon ID. Uponidentifying the closest beacon, such as beacon 2404, the enterprisemeeting application 2600 on the portable electronic device 2402, 2403receives from the beacon 2404 the application identifier and its beaconID. The enterprise meeting application 2600 receiving the beacon IDwould query the enterprise server 2412 for the network address of thepresentation gateway 2410.

FIG. 29 illustrates one embodiment of a flowchart 2900 showing themethod for pairing the presenter portable electronic device 2402 and/orthe attendee portable electronic device 2403 with a meeting room device,such as the presentation gateway 2410, via one or more beacons 2404 andthe enterprise server 2412. In step 2902, a user positions the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403 in communication range with a beacon 2404.The user may position the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 bywalking within the meeting room 2401 while carrying the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403.

In step 2904, the enterprise meeting application 2600 is loaded. Theenterprise meeting application 2600 can be loaded manually by the user.In another embodiment, as described above with reference to FIG. 28, theenterprise meeting application 2600 can be loaded automatically or bedownloaded upon receiving an application identifier 2501 from a beacon2404.

After being loaded, the enterprise meeting application 2600 can instructthe portable electronic device 2402, 2403 to scan for any nearby beacons2404. In step 2906, the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 receivesthe information broadcasted by the beacon 2404. In this embodiment, theportable electronic device 2402, 2403 receives the applicationidentifier 2501 and the beacon ID 2502 encoded in the beacon 2404. Uponreceiving the application identifier 2501 and beacon ID 2502 from abeacon in step 2906, the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 providesthat information to the enterprise meeting application 2600 based on thereceived application identifier 2501.

Then in step 2908, the enterprise meeting application 2600 determineswhether there are any additional beacons present. If in step 2908 theportable electronic device 2402, 2403 detects the presence of only asingle broadcasting beacon, in step 2918, the portable electronic device2402, 2403 communicates the selected beacon ID to the enterprise server2412. According to one embodiment, the enterprise meeting application2600 contains in its memory the network address of the enterprise server2412 to enable communication. In another embodiment, the enterprisemeeting application 2600 receives the enterprise server network address2504 from the selected beacon 2404 in order to connect with a correctenterprise server 2412 associated with the presentation system 2400.

If in step 2908 the enterprise meeting application 2600 detectsadditional broadcasting beacons, in step 2912, the portable electronicdevice 2402, 2403 receives application identifiers and beacon IDs fromthe additional beacons. The enterprise meeting application 2600 thenestimates the distance of the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 toeach of the plurality of broadcasting beacons in step 2914. For example,the personal area network interface of the portable electronic device2402, 2403 is configured for measuring the received signal strength ofeach received beacon broadcast. The enterprise meeting application 2600may log the RSSI of each measured distances in a table according tosignal strength.

In step 2916, the enterprise meeting application 2600 determines thelocation of the portable electronic device 2402, 2403. In oneembodiment, the enterprise meeting application 2600 determines thelocation by identifying the nearest beacon. The enterprise meetingapplication 2600 selects the nearest beacon by comparing the receivedsignal strengths and determining which beacon 2404 has the strongestsignal according to RSSI. After selecting the nearest beacon 2404, theenterprise meeting application 2600 transmits the selected beacon ID tothe enterprise server 2412 in step 2918. In step 2920, the enterpriseserver 2412 uses the transmitted beacon ID to identify the meeting room2401 associated with the beacon 2404, and particularly, the meeting roomdevice network addresses of the meeting room devices present in themeeting room 2401. The meeting room device network address may comprisean IP address, a URI address, a URL address, a host name, or the like.

According to another embodiment, the enterprise meeting application 2600determines in which room the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 islocated via trilateration as discussed above with reference to step 2005of FIG. 20. For example, the enterprise meeting application 2600 canestimate its distance to at least three beacons, determine its locationcoordinates using trilateration, map that location on a floor plan, andidentify the room the portable electronic device is located. The floorplan may be downloaded from the enterprise server 2412. The enterprisemeeting application 2600 may communicate with the enterprise server 2412to perform the above steps for determining the room location of theportable electronic device 2402, 2403, and some of the above steps maybe performed by the enterprise server 2412 itself. Once the meeting roomis identified, the enterprise meeting application 2600 can query theenterprise server 2412 for the room information associated with theidentified meeting room to retrieve its associated meeting room devicenetwork addresses.

According to another embodiment, during setup, the enterprise meetingapplication 2600 downloads an enterprise room file from the enterpriseserver 2412 containing room information for each conference room in anenterprise, such as meeting room 2401. The enterprise meetingapplication 2600 can download an entire record for each room, or only aportion of the room record. The enterprise room file is saved on thememory of the portable electronic device 2402, 2403. The enterprise roomfile can be updated regularly by having the enterprise meetingapplication 2600 query the enterprise server 2412 for updates or byhaving the enterprise server 2412 push updates to the enterprise meetingapplication 2600. For example, the enterprise meeting application 2600can download a record for meeting room 2401 containing the meeting roomname (e.g., “Room A113”), beacon ID of beacon 2404 located withinmeeting room 2401, and network addresses of meeting room devices locatedwithin meeting room 2401, such as the network address of thepresentation gateway 2401. After determining the location of theportable electronic device 2402, 2403 within meeting room 2401 andselecting the beacon 2404 associated with the location as discussedabove in step 2916, the enterprise meeting application 2600 can querythe locally stored enterprise room file to retrieve the meeting roomdevice network addresses associated with the selected beacon in step2920.

Next, in step 2922, the enterprise server 2412 may determine whetheruser authentication is required. As discussed above, the enterpriseserver 2412 may store access rights information for each meeting roomthat identifies a list of users that have access rights to use the roomand its resources, as well as the scope of the access rights. Forexample, meeting room 2401 may be a general conference room with accessrights that allows any user to access its resources, and as suchauthentication is not required. In another embodiment, access rights canspecify that the meeting room 2401 may only be used by a list of certainusers. In yet another embodiment, room access rights can give certainrights to authenticated users and limited rights to unauthenticatedusers. For example, an authenticated user can use any availableresources located within the meeting room 2401. An unauthenticated usercan, for example, only receive shared presentation content from thepresentation gateway, but not transmit presentation content. In anotherembodiment, a user may have limited or no access to certain areas orresources based on time of day, priority, employment level or a myriadof other factors.

In another embodiment, a scheduled meeting event of the room for aparticular time period (e.g., meeting schedule 800 shown in FIG. 8) maylist users participating in the meeting, identifying whether the user isthe meeting organizer or a meeting attendee. Access rights may permitonly the meeting organizer to transmit presentation content to thepresentation gateway during the scheduled period of time. Access rightsmay permit only the meeting attendees listed in the meeting schedule toretrieve the presentation content on their portable electronic devices.Accordingly, the enterprise server 2412 allows for controlling whichuser can present presentation content and receive presentation content,eliminating inadvertent sharing of confidential material.

If authentication is required, the enterprise meeting application 2600communicates with the enterprise server 2412 to authenticate the user instep 2924. In one embodiment, the user is authenticated by having theenterprise meeting application 2600 automatically transmit to theenterprise server 2412 authentication information of the user, such asthe user ID, the portable electronic device ID, or the like. In anotherembodiment, the user is prompted to input authentication information,such as a user ID, a password, a biometric indicator, such as afingerprint, or the like. In one embodiment, the user registrationengine 206 of the enterprise meeting application 2600 handles userauthentication. The enterprise server 2412 may compare the receivedauthentication information to a list of users which have room access. Inanother embodiment, a user can be authenticated against a corporatedirectory using Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). LDAP is adirectory service protocol implemented on a layer above the TCP/IP stackused to connect to, search, and modify Internet directories.

If in step 2926 the enterprise server 2412 determines thatauthentication is unsuccessful, the enterprise server 2412 sends anerror message 2929 to the portable electronic device 2402, 2403. If theauthentication is successful, the enterprise server 2412 can transmit adata file containing the permitted access rights for the user to theenterprise meeting application 2600 of the portable communication device2402, 2403. Particularly, the data file containing the access rights canbe transmitted to the access data storage area 220 and used by theaccess engine 216 of the enterprise meeting application 2600, asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 4. Access engine 216 can use theaccess rights to restrict communication between the portable electronicdevice 2402, 2403 and the presentation gateway according to the receivedaccess rights.

If the user is successfully authenticated, or if authentication is notrequired, in step 2930, the enterprise server 2412 transmits theidentified meeting room device network address to the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403, and the enterprise meeting application2600 uses the meeting room device network address to pair the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403 with the corresponding meeting room device,such as the presentation gateway 2010. In step 2933, the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403 communicates with the meeting room device,such as the presentation gateway 2410, via local area network 2408. Forexample, the presenter portable electronic device 2402 can transmit thepresentation content 2414 to the paired presentation gateway 2410, andthe attendee portable electronic device 2403 can receive presentationcontent from the paired presentation gateway 2410.

In yet another embodiment, the beacon 2404 can transmit to the user'sportable electronic device 2402, 2403 the application identifier 2501,the beacon ID 2502, and the meeting room device network address 2503.The enterprise meeting application 2600 can operate in an authenticatedmode or unauthenticated mode. In an unauthenticated mode, wherein a usermay not be registered with the enterprise server 2412, or who does notchoose to get authenticated, the enterprise meeting application 2600 canprovide limited predefined access rights to the presentation gateway2410, as well as other resources in the room. In an authenticated mode,a user registered with the enterprise server 2412 can use the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403 to get additional features and informationaccording with the user's access rights.

According to an aspect of the embodiments, after a portable electronicdevice 2402, 2403 is successfully paired with a meeting room device,such as a presentation gateway 2410, within meeting room 2401, theenterprise application 2600 relates that information to the schedulingapplication 20. If the status indicator for the meeting room 2401 isvacant for a particular time period subsequent to pairing, thescheduling application 20 can designate the status indicator for themeeting room 2401 as “booked” for the particular time period andcommunicate the status indicator to the scheduling server 15. The timeperiod may begin as soon as the portable electronic device 2402, 2403 ispaired with a meeting room device and can last for a predeterminedamount of time, such as thirty minutes. In another embodiment, the usercan be prompted to indicate the length of the time period the userwishes to use the meeting room 2401. As shown in FIG. 7, the schedulingapplication 20 may illustrate the status indicator 706 as a selectableicon that color codes the time period to indicate to other enterpriseusers that the time period is booked. Thereby, the enterprise user mayremain using the room uninterrupted.

After successful pairing, the presentation application 2601 of theenterprise meeting application 2600 on the presenter portable electronicdevice 2402 can transmit the presentation content 2414 to thepresentation gateway 2410 for displaying via meeting room display 2406and sharing with the attendee portable electronic device 2403. Accordingto various aspects, the originating presentation content 2414 cancomprise a slideshow, such as a PowerPoint® slideshow, Excel®, Word, andPDF documents, a series of images or photographs, or the like. Thepresentation content 2414 can further comprise audio accompanying thevisual presentation or slideshow. The presentation content 2414 can beopened and displayed within a window of the presentation application2601 on a display screen of the presenter portable electronic device2402. The presenter can view the presentation content 2414 on thepresenter portable electronic device 2402 and navigate through thepresentation content 2414 on the presenter portable electronic device2402 using the presentation application 2601. The presentation content2414 can be continuously transmitted to the presentation gateway 2410via the local area network 2408 while the presenter navigates throughthe presentation.

The presentation content 2414 can be transmitted to the presentationgateway 2410 as a content data stream, which can include text, graphics,images, photographs, video, audio, or any combinations thereof. Forexample, the presentation content 2414 can be transmitted to thepresentation gateway 2410 as a video data stream, or as an audiovisualdata stream when audio accompanies the presentation content 2414. Inanother embodiment, the presentation content 2414 can be transmitted tothe presentation gateway 2410 as a series of images.

In another embodiment, the presentation application 2601 can share thepresentation content 2414 via desktop sharing techniques known in theart. The presentation content 2414 can be rendered within a window ofthe presentation application 2601 on the presenter portable electronicdevice 2402. Content data stream containing packets of information canbe sent from the presenter portable electronic device 2402 to thepresentation gateway 2410 as encrypted data that renders what is beingdisplayed within the window of the presentation application 2601 on thepresenter portable electronic device 2402 at any given time.Conveniently, only the window rendering the presentation content 2414within the presentation application 2601 is being shared with thepresentation gateway 2410. Other data or information that may bedisplayed on the display screen of the presenter portable electronicdevice 2402 is not shared. As such, the presenter may perform othertasks, such as taking notes or previewing other slides in the deck. Thecontent data stream can comprise various formats, including image files(JPEGs and GIFs), or individual pixels assigned to a particular X and Ycoordinates. Desktop sharing techniques can be implemented that onlysend information updates on the sections of the screen that havechanged, minimizing the amount of necessary bandwidth.

The presentation content 2414 can be stored in the memory of thepresenter portable electronic device 2402. Upon arriving to the meeting,the presenter can use the presentation application 2601 to retrieve thepresentation content 2414 from the memory.

In another embodiment, the presentation application 2601 of thepresenter portable electronic device 2402 can retrieve the presentationcontent 2414 automatically from the user's calendar upon arriving at themeeting. The presentation application 2601 can communicate with a localcalendar utility or application available on the presenter portableelectronic device 2402 to retrieve the user's calendar information.Alternatively, the presentation application 2601 can communicate via aweb-based calendaring application with a remote calendar server 2416 toaccess user's calendar information. User's calendar can be linked to thepresentation application 2601 during its setup or registration process.The presenter can create a meeting event for a particular scheduledperiod of time and attach the presentation content 2414 to the meetingevent. The presentation content 2414 is saved in association with themeeting event either on the presenter portable electronic device 2402 oron the calendar server 2416. Upon arriving to the meeting room 2401during the scheduled period of time, the enterprise meeting application2600 can pair the presenter portable electronic device 2402 with thepresentation gateway 2410 to commence the meeting. The presentationapplication 2601 can access the meeting event on the user's calendarbased on the date and time of day. The presentation application 2601 canscan the attached files field of the calendar meeting event using apredetermined regular expression (REGEX) search pattern string todetermine if there is any content or files attached to the meetingevent. The presentation application 2601 can present to the user a listof potential content found in association with the meeting event. Assuch, the presentation application 2601 can retrieve the appropriatepresentation content 2414 associated with the meeting event in theuser's calendar based on the date and time of day and present thepresentation content 2414 to the user.

In another embodiment, the presentation application 2601 of thepresenter portable electronic device 2402 can retrieve the presentationcontent 2414 automatically via the enterprise server 2412 upon arrivingat the meeting. The presenter can create a meeting event by scheduling ameeting and booking the meeting room 2401 via the scheduling application20 of the enterprise meeting application 2600 and the enterprise server2412, as discussed above, and upload a presentation containing thepresentation content 2414 as a shared document 1201 (FIG. 12). Thepresentation content 2414 can be saved in association with the scheduledmeeting event on the enterprise server 2412. The presentationapplication 2601 can be a standalone application in communication withthe scheduling application 20, or both applications can comprise modulesof the enterprise meeting application 2600. Upon arriving at meetingroom 2401 where the meeting is to be held and placing the presenterportable electronic device 2402 within a communication range of beacon2404, the presenter portable electronic device 2402 can pair with thepresentation gateway 2410 via the beacon 2404 as discussed above. Thepresentation application 2601 can access the meeting event from theenterprise server 2412 and retrieve the presentation content 2414associated with the meeting event. For example, upon arriving at themeeting, the scheduling application 20 of the presenter portableelectronic device 2402 can display the pop-up screen 900 shown in FIG. 9detailing the information for the meeting scheduled in the meeting room2401. The presenter can press the “start meeting” selectable icon 901 tobegin the meeting. Upon receiving a selection of the start meetingbutton 901, the presentation application 2601 can retrieve thepresentation content 2414 from the enterprise server 2412 and transmitit to the presentation gateway 2410.

In other embodiments, presentation content 2414 can be provided to thepresentation gateway 2415 from other devices. The presentation content2414 can be provided to the presentation gateway 2415 via a dedicatedcomputer located within meeting room 2401. The presenter can uploadpresentation content 2414 to such a computer via a USB or other memory.The dedicated computer may be connected to the presentation gateway 2410in a plurality of ways, including a wireline connection, such ashigh-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), DisplayPort, Digital VisualInterface (DVI), or Video Graphics Array (VGA) connection, or via awired or wireless local area network 2408.

The presentation gateway 2410 receives the presentation content 2414,processes it, and transmits it to meeting room display 2406 and anyconnected attendee portable communication devices 2403. FIG. 30 is ablock diagram depicting the presentation gateway 2410 in accordance withan illustrative embodiment. The presentation gateway 2410 can compriseone or more interfaces for transmitting and receiving information, suchas the presentation content 2414, including a wireless network interface3002, an audiovisual interface 3004, and a communication networkinterface 3006.

The communication network interface 3006 is configured to receiveinformation from a communication network, such as the wide area network2417. According to an embodiment, the network interface 3006 is anEthernet interface for sending and receiving signals over an InternetProtocol (IP) based network. In one embodiment, communication networkinterface 3006 may include the capability to connect directly with theWAN communication network 2417 via a WAN interface. The WAN interfacemay permit connection to a cellular data network, such as the EDGEnetwork or other 3G network. The network interface 3006 may include aLAN interface to an Ethernet-based network wherein connection to thecommunication network 2417 may involve communication through a networkrouter or other intermediary device. Presentation gateway 2410 can alsoconnect to the communication network 2417 via the wireless networkinterface 3002, through the wireless LAN 2408 and one or moreintermediary device. Presentation gateway 2410 can communicate with oneor more remote servers, such as the enterprise server 2412, the calendarserver 2410, or other remote server via the communication networkinterface 3006.

The presentation gateway 2410 can communication with the portableelectronic devices 2402, 2403 through the wireless local area network2408 via wireless network interface 3002. According to one embodiment,the wireless network interface 3002 can comprise a bidirectional radiofrequency (RF) transceiver designed to enable communications with theportable electronic devices 2402, 2403 via the wireless local areanetwork 2408. In certain embodiments, the wireless network interface3002 may include a PAN interface. The PAN interface may providecapabilities to network with, for example, a Bluetooth® network, an IEEE802.15.4 (e.g., ZigBee) network, or an ultra-wideband network (UWB). Asshould be appreciated, the networks accessed by the PAN interface of thewireless network interface 3002 can, but do not necessarily, representlow power, low rate, low bandwidth, or close range wireless connections.The wireless network interface 3002 can permit one electronic device toconnect to another electronic device via an ad-hoc or peer-to-peerconnection. The presentation gateway 2410 can use one or more gatewaysto communicate with the portable electronic devices 2402, 2403 andsupport additional devices. In addition, wireless expanders can be addedwherever needed to extend the wireless network 2408 by filling-in gapsbetween devices.

The presentation gateway 2410 can further include a wired audiovisualinterface 3004 configured for transmitting audiovisual information, suchas the presentation content 2414, to the meeting room display 2406.Audiovisual interface 3004 can comprise one or more audiovisual outputs,including but not limited to a high-definition multimedia interface(HDMI), DisplayPort, Digital Visual Interface (DVI), Video GraphicsArray (VGA), or similar outputs. In another embodiment, presentationgateway 2410 transmits the presentation content 2414 to the meeting roomdisplay 2406 through the wireless network 2408 via the wireless networkinterface 3002.

The presentation gateway 2410 may include additional input/output (I/O)interfaces for connection with other electronic devices. One or more I/Ointerfaces may represent a serial port, for example a COM port or a USBport. Additionally, one or more IR interfaces may enable thepresentation gateway 2410 to receive control signals from a remotecontrol.

The presentation gateway 2410 can further comprise at least one centralprocessing unit (CPU) 3008. The CPU 3008 can represent one or moremicroprocessors, and the microprocessors can be “general purpose”microprocessors, a combination of general and special purposemicroprocessors, or application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).Additionally or alternatively, the CPU 3008 can include one or morereduced instruction set (RISC) processors, video processors, or relatedchip sets. The CPU 3008 can provide processing capability to execute anoperating system, run various applications, and/or provide processingfor one or more of the techniques and functions described herein.Applications that can run on the presentation gateway 2410 can include,for example, software for wirelessly pairing with the portableelectronic devices 2402, 2403 via local area network 2408 and softwarefor processing the presentation content 2414.

In an embodiment, the presentation gateway 2410 includes a main memory3010 and nonvolatile memory 3012. Main memory 3010 can be communicablycoupled to the CPU 3008, which can store data and executable code. Themain memory 3010 can represent volatile memory such as random-accessmemory (RAM), but can also include nonvolatile memory, such as read-onlymemory (ROM) or Flash memory. In buffering or caching data related tooperations of the CPU 121, the main memory 3010 can store dataassociated with applications running on the presentation gateway 2410.The nonvolatile memory 3012 can represent any suitable nonvolatilestorage medium, such as a hard disk drive or nonvolatile memory, such asFlash memory. Being well-suited to long-term storage, the nonvolatilestorage 3012 can store data files, software for implementing thefunctions on the presentation gateway 2410.

The presentation gateway 2410 can further comprise an analog-to-digitalconverter (ADC) 3014 for converting presentation content 2414 fromanalog to digital. For example, the presentation content 2414 may bereceived from an analog audiovisual input channel, such as a VGA input,from a dedicated computer via a VGA input. The presentation gateway 2410can further comprise a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 3016 forconverting presentation content 2414 from digital to analog. Forexample, the presentation content 2414 may need to be outputted to ananalog audiovisual output channel, such as a red-green-blue-horizontalsync-vertical sync (RGBHV) output port configured for transmitting ananalog component video signal to a meeting room display 2406. Thepresentation gateway 2410 can further comprise a video processor 3020for processing video, such as for scaling the video. The presentationgateway 2410 can further comprise an audio processor 3022 for processingaudio of the presentation content 2414, such as for equalizing the audiolevel. The presentation gateway 2410 can further comprise one or moremodules for capturing images of the presentation content 2414 forsharing with the attendee portable electronic device 2403.

As discussed above, the presentation gateway 2410 receives thepresentation content 2414 from the presenter portable electronic device2402, a dedicated computer located within meeting room 2401, or viaother means, and transmits it to the attendee portable electronic device2403 as a presentation content data stream in real time. Thepresentation application 2601 on the attendee portable electronic device2403 in turn processes the presentation content 2414 and displays it tothe user.

FIG. 31 illustrates a flowchart 3100 showing a method for capturing anddisplaying the presentation content 2414 by the presentation application2601 of the enterprise meeting application 2600 on the attendee portableelectronic device 2403. The captured presentation content 2414 isdisplayed on the attendee portable electronic device 2403 without theattendee portable electronic device 2403 having a copy of the softwareused to make the presentation. The captured presentation content 2414 isdisplayed on the attendee portable electronic device 2403 in real timeand in sync with the presentation content 2414 displayed on the meetingroom display 2406. The presentation application 2601 on the attendeeportable electronic device 2403 captures and compares each newlycaptured image to the previously captured image so that only images withchanged presentation content 2414 are displayed and saved, whileretransmission of newly captured images with substantially identicalpresentation content 2414 are discarded. This allows for saving theentirety of a meeting's slide deck without redundant images, reducingclutter and storage needs.

The method depicted in FIG. 31 can be performed by the various enginesshown in FIG. 26 of the presentation application 2601. Particularly, instep 3102, the presentation application 2601 on the attendee portableelectronic device 2403 receives the presentation content 2414 from thepresentation gateway 2410 as a presentation content data stream. In oneembodiment, the presentation content data stream can comprise a videostream. In another embodiment, the presentation content data stream cancomprise a series of images transmitted to the attendee portableelectronic device 2403 in real time.

In step 3104, the presentation application 2601 retrieves a new imagefrom the presentation content data stream. For example, a new image maybe retrieved from a data stream comprising a series of images. Inanother embodiment, a new image may be captured from a video stream. Invarious embodiments, the retrieved presentation content images cancomprise one or more of a JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, BMP, or other image filetypes known in the art or later discovered. According to an embodiment,new images of the presentation content 2414 are retrieved in rapidsuccession. The presentation application 2601 may be configured toretrieve a new image within less than 5 seconds, as frequently as every1 or 2 seconds, or even less than 1 second.

In step 3106, the presentation application 2601 compares the newlyretrieved image to a previously saved image to determine whether the newimage is substantially identical to the previously saved image. Thereare various computer vision image processing techniques that may beimplemented to perform image comparison, including keypoint matching,histogram matching, or the like. Images are not substantially identicalwhen content in the image has been changed, added, or deleted. Forexample, the presentation presented on the meeting room display 2406 mayhave been navigated to the next slide, or content within a slide mayhave been altered, such by an addition, removal, or manipulation oftext, graphics, images, or the like.

If the newly retrieved image is substantially identical to a previouslysaved image, then the new image is discarded in step 3108. Thepresentation application 2601 then waits a predetermined period of timein step 3114, such as a few seconds or less as discussed above. If instep 3116, additional presentation content data stream is available thenthe presentation application 2601 retrieves a new image in step 3104.

If, instead, the presentation application 2601 determines in step 3106that the image is not substantially identical to the previously savedimage, then the new image is saved in step 3110. The newly saved imageis saved to be compared to the subsequently received images. The newlysaved image is also transmitted to a display screen of the attendeeportable electronic device 2403 for display to the attendee in step3112. Accordingly, as soon as the presentation content 2414 changes onthe meeting room display 2406 in room 2410 during the meeting, a newimage of the presentation content 2414 is saved and is displayed on thedisplay screen of the attendee portable electronic device 2403. As such,a meeting attendee can view the presentation content 2414 on hisportable electronic device 2403 substantially in synch with thepresented presentation on the meeting room display 2406 during themeeting.

The presentation application 2601 continues to retrieve and compareimages until it no longer receives the presentation content data streamin step 3116. For example, the presentation application 2601 ceases toreceive presentation content upon being disconnected from thepresentation gateway 2410, or upon receiving an indication from thepresentation gateway 2410 that the presentation has ended.

Finally, after the meeting has ended, the presentation application 2601can compile the saved images in step 3118 into a compiled presentationdata file. For example, the presentation application 2601 can compilethe saved images into a slideshow. The presentation application 2601 canautomatically store the compiled presentation data file on the attendeeportable electronic device 2403, or it can query the user whether tostore or discard the compiled presentation data file. The compiledpresentation data file can be shared as the user desires. For example,it can be shared via electronic mail in an attachment. The presentationapplication 2601 can also transmit the compiled presentation data fileto be stored remotely. The presentation application 2601 can furthercommunicate with the user's calendar, which can be a local calendarapplication or a calendar application provided via the calendar server2416, and store the compiled presentation data file in association withthe attendee's calendar meeting entry. The attendee can access thecalendar meeting entry thereafter to review the compiled presentationdata file.

In another embodiment, a meeting event can be created and booked formeeting room 2401 via the scheduling application 20 of the enterprisemeeting application 2600. At the end of the scheduled meeting event, thecompiled presentation data file can be transmitted to the enterpriseserver 2412 and saved in association with the scheduled meeting event.Meeting attendees can thereafter access the scheduled meeting event toreview the presentation content displayed during the meeting.

According to another aspect of the embodiments, instead of automaticallysaving images for a total record of the presentation, the attendee caninteract with the presentation application 2601 to select and bookmarkthe images of the presentation content 2414 which should be saved on theattendee portable electronic device 2403 for later retrieval. Forexample, the attendee can bookmark the images by touching the images,touching an icon on the images, or the like. The bookmarked images canbe compiled at the end of the meeting, for example, into a slideshow.

In another embodiment, some or all of the method steps illustrated inFIG. 31 can be performed by the presentation gateway 2410. In step 3102,the presentation gateway 2410 can receive the presentation content 2414from the presenter portable electronic device 2402, a dedicated computerlocated within meeting room 2401, or via other means as a presentationcontent data stream in step 3102. The presentation gateway 2410 canretrieve a new image in step 3104 and compare the newly retrieved imageto a previously saved image in step 3106. Substantially identical imageis discarded in step 3108, while an image which is not substantiallyidentical to the previously saved image (i.e., an image with changedcontent) is saved in step 3110. The newly saved image is saved to becompared to the subsequently received images. In step 3112, the newlysaved image is transmitted to the presentation application 2601 on theattendee portable electronic device 2403 for display to the attendee.Following steps 3104 through 3116, the presentation gateway 2410captures and compares each newly captured image to the previouslycaptured image so that only images with changed presentation content2414 are transmitted to the attendee portable electronic device 2403,and that newly captured images with substantially identical presentationcontent 2414 are discarded. This saves bandwidth and allows for savingthe entirety of a meeting's slide deck without redundant images,reducing clutter and storage needs.

After the presentation has ended, the presentation gateway 2410 candiscard the saved images, or it can compile the saved images into acompiled presentation data file in step 3118. The compiled presentationdata file can be saved for a predetermined amount of time on thepresentation gateway 2410, after which it may be discarded. In anotherembodiment, at the end of the meeting, the compiled presentation datafile can be transmitted to the portable electronic devices 2402, 2403,or to a remote server, such as the enterprise server 2412. For example,a meeting event can be created and booked for meeting room 2401 via thescheduling application 20 of the enterprise meeting application 2600. Atthe end of the scheduled meeting event, the compiled presentation datafile can be transmitted to the enterprise server 2412 and saved inassociation with the scheduled meeting event. Meeting attendees canthereafter access the scheduled meeting event to review the presentationcontent displayed during the meeting.

FIG. 32 is a schematic diagram depicting an exemplary presentation page3200 of the presentation application 2601 for presenting and viewingpresentation content 2414 via presentation gateway 2410 inside of thespace the user is located. Upon positioning the portable electronicdevice 2402, 2403 within a beacon 2404 proximity, the portableelectronic device 2402, 2403 can load the presentation application 2601and display the presentation page 3200. The presentation page 3200 maydisplay a “present” icon 3201 and a “view” icon 3202. The user may pressthe “present” icon 3201 to present the presentation content 2414 via thepresentation gateway 2410. Alternatively, the user may press the “view”icon 3202 to view the presentation content 2414 that is being displayedby the presentation gateway 2410.

FIG. 33 is a schematic diagram depicting an exemplary access room page3300 of an enterprise meeting application 2600 incorporating ascheduling application 20 and the presentation application 2601. Accessroom page 3300 can be accessed manually by pressing the “access room”icon 502 shown in FIG. 5. In another embodiment, upon positioning theportable electronic device 2402, 2403 within a beacon proximity, theportable electronic device 2402, 2403 can load the enterprise meetingapplication 2600 and display the access room page 3300. The enterprisemeeting application 2600 may display a “book space” icon 3301 formanaging a conference room schedule via scheduling application 20. Uponpressing the “book space” icon 3301, the user may be presented with thescheduling page 700 shown in FIG. 7, which can be used to book themeeting room. The enterprise meeting application 2600 may furtherdisplay a “present” icon 3302 and a “view” icon 3303. Pressing the“present” icon 3302 will launch the presentation application 2601 topresent the presentation content 2414 via the presentation gateway 2410.Alternatively, the user may press the “view” icon 3203 to launch thepresentation application 2601 to view the presentation content 2414 thatis being displayed by the presentation gateway 2410. In anotherembodiment, the user is authenticated as discussed above and can beidentified by the enterprise server 2412 as either the presenter or anattendee of the meeting. If the user is identified as the presenter, theaccess room page 3300 will display the “present” icon 3302, but not the“view” icon 3303. If the user is identified as the attendee, thescheduling page 3300 will display the “view” icon 3303, but not the“present” icon 3302.

FIG. 34A is a schematic diagram depicting a present options page 3400 ofthe presentation application 2601, which can be accessed after thepresenter pressed the “present” icon 3201 (FIG. 32) or 3302 (FIG. 33).The presenter may select presentation content 2414 to present in thepresentation content section 3401. The presenter may press the “viewfile on my device” icon 3402 to brows and select files stored in thememory of the presenter portable electronic device 2402. Thepresentation application 2601 can further contain a “meeting eventcontent” section 3403 that displays one or more content associated withthe meeting event automatically retrieved from the user's calendar orfrom the enterprise server 2412 as discussed above. For example, foreach retrieved content, the presentation application 2601 may display aselectable icon, such as a “slideshow” icon 3408 and a “PDF file” icon3410. The presenter may select the desired content by pressing itscorresponding icon and then pressing the “present” icon 3406. Inresponse, the presentation application 2601 will transmit the selectedcontent to the presentation gateway 2410. The present page 3400 mayfurther contain a presenter selectable attendee viewing option 3412 toenable or disable attendee viewing of the presentation content 2414 onthe attendee portable electronic device 2403. If the attendee viewingoption 3412 is enabled, then the presentation gateway 2410 transmits thedisplayed presentation content 2414 to one or more attendee portableelectronic device 2403, upon request. If the attendee viewing option3412 is disabled, the presentation gateway 2410 only transmits thepresentation content 2414 to be displayed on the meeting room display2406 in the room, and not to the attendee portable electronic device2403.

FIG. 34B is a schematic diagram depicting a present page 3420 of thepresentation application 2601 on the presenter portable electronicdevice 2402. The present page 3420 can be accessed after the presenterpressed the “present” icon 3406 on the present options page 3400 (FIG.34A). During the meeting, the presentation application 2601 on thepresenter portable electronic device 2402 displays the presentationcontent to the presenter in synch with the presentation contentpresented on the meeting room display 2406. The present page 3420 candisplay the current page 3421 of the presentation content in apresentation content window 3425. Only the window 3425 rendering thepresentation content 2414 within the presentation application 2601 isbeing shared with the presentation gateway 2410 for display on themeeting room display 2406. Other data or information that may bedisplayed on the display screen of the presenter portable electronicdevice 2402 by the presentation application 2601 or other applicationsis not shared. As such, the presenter may perform other tasks, such astaking notes or previewing other slides in the deck. For example, thepresent page 3420 can further comprise a ribbon 3422 including a previewof the entire deck of the presentation content. The presenter maynavigate through the pages of the presentation content by dragging thecurrent page right or left. Additionally, the presenter may tap on adesired presentation content page in the ribbon 3422. The presenter canfurther annotate the presentation by pressing the “notes” icon 3424.

FIG. 35 is a schematic diagram depicting a view page 3500 of thepresentation application 2601 on the attendee portable electronic device2403. The view page 3500 can be accessed after the attendee pressed the“view” icon 3202 (FIG. 32) or 3303 (FIG. 33). During the meeting, thepresentation application 2601 on the attendee portable electronic device2403 continuously retrieves and displays the current image 3501 of thepresentation content 2414 on the display of the attendee portableelectronic device 2403 substantially in synch with the meeting roomdisplay 2406. Since images of the presentation content are cached on theattendee portable electronic device 2403, as discussed above, the usercan navigate or scrawl back to previously saved images, allowing theuser to review previous parts of the presentation. For example, the usercan move back to these previous images using a drag gesture, or bypressing the images displayed in a timeline format 3502.

The view page 3500 can further include a “play presentation” icon 3503,a “pause presentation” icon 3504, and a “stop presentation” icon 3505.The “play presentation” icon 3503 allows the attendee to return to thelive display of the presentation content 2414 in synch with the meetingroom display 2406 in the meeting room 2401. The “pause presentation”icon 3504 allows the attendee to pause the presentation so the attendeecan view the presented image in more detail. The “stop presentation”icon 3505 allows the attendee to stop the presentation, for example,when the attendee wishes to leave the meeting. The attendee can furthermanipulate the displayed images by zooming, stretching, and rotating byperforming corresponding multi touch gestures on the display screen ofthe attendee portable electronic device 2403, such as pinch-to-zoom,pinch and stretch, pinch and rotate, or the like.

In another embodiment, the attendee can select a previously saved image(e.g., by pressing on an image in timeline 3502.), and then press the“present” icon 3507. In response, the previously saved image istransmitted from the attendee portable electronic device 2403 to thepresentation gateway 2400 for display on the meeting room display 2406in meeting room 2401. Choosing to share a previously saved imageautomatically makes to attendee the new presenter. This feature allowsusers to bounce back and forth during the meeting seamlessly, provides acollaborative way to have a productive meeting, and eliminates the needto ask the presenter to return to a specific slide.

The meeting presenter or the attendee can further annotate thepresentation during the meeting by pressing the “notes” icon 3424 (FIG.34B) or 3510 (FIG. 35). FIG. 36 is a schematic diagram depicting anannotating page 3600 of the presentation application 2601. Theannotating page 3600 can display the current images 3601 of thepresentation content 2414, a section with the user's notes 3605, and anon-screen keyboard 3606. The annotating page 3600 allows the presenteror the attendee to take notes 3605 along with viewing the current images3601 of the presentation content 2414 using a word processingfunctionality. The word processing functionality can be provided by theword processing engine 2616 of the presentation application 2601 (FIG.26). The attendee can also scrawl back to previously saved images to addor edit their notes. While the presenter is also provided with theannotating page 3600 to take notes during the presentation, only thecurrent page 3601 of the presentation content 2414, and not the notes,will be transmitted to the presentation gateway 2410 and displayed onthe meeting display 2406 during the meeting.

As the user takes notes, the entered notes 3605 are saved in associationwith their corresponding images of the presentation. The images alongwith their associated notes can be compiled into a single data file. Forexample, the notes can be saved in association with their images in aslideshow format, such that each slide contains a saved image and itsassociated notes. More than one user's notes may be compiled and savedin association with their images. According to one embodiment, eachsaved image can be recorded in a Powerpoint slide and its associatednotes can be added in the notes field of the slide in a Powerpoint XMLformat (PPTX). In another embodiment, the user's notes can be saved aspart of the image or as a separate shape in the PPTX file. In anotherembodiment, images along with their associated notes can be compiled ina Word XML format (DOCX) where the images and their corresponding noteswill be saved on a single page. The compiled presentation data file canbe saved on the presenter or attendee portable electronic device 2402,2403 or shared as discussed above. The compiled presentation data filecan further be saved in association with the user's calendar asdiscussed above.

FIG. 37 shows an exemplary embodiment of a system 3700 for enabling anenterprise end user to utilize his portable electronic device 3702 toconnect to and utilize conferencing devices or equipment, such as aconferencing endpoint 3710, located within a meeting room 3701.Conferencing system 3700 enables an enterprise end user to initiate aconference call from his portable electronic device 3702 via one or moreradio frequency beacons 3704. It should be noted that the exemplaryembodiments of conferencing system 3700 may be varied in one or moreaspects without departing from the spirit and scope of the teachingsdisclosed herein. While the embodiments are described herein as beingimplemented for initiating a conference call during a business meetingin a commercial conference room, it is not limited to such animplementation. The present embodiments may be employed to initiateconference calls in other venues, facilities, or gatherings.Conferencing system 3700 may be employed within commercial, residential,retail, or non-profit venue structures, as well as for professional,education, entertainment, and general communication.

Referring to FIG. 37, according to one embodiment, conferencing system3700 may include a conferencing endpoint 3710, a user portableelectronic device 3702, a meeting room display 3706, a speaker 3712, acamera with a microphone 3714, and one or more radio frequencycommunication beacons 3704 located within a meeting room 3701. Aspectsof the embodiments described herein provide a conferencing system 3700that enables a user to enter a meeting room 3701 and initiate aconference call using the user's portable electronic device 3702 withoutneeding to enter the conference call dialing information directly intothe conferencing equipment in the meeting room 3701. Conferencing system3700 provides a reduction in complexity that makes it easier for usersto initiate conference calls.

Conferencing system 3700 may further comprise one or more remote serversfor additional processing and functionality. For example, conferencingsystem 3700 can include the enterprise server 2412 described above forenabling room scheduling and allocation of room resources, such as theconferencing endpoint 3710. Conferencing system 3700 can further includethe calendar server 2416 for receiving user's calendar information. Asdiscussed above, the calendar server 2416 can be integrated with thescheduling server 2412. Portable electronic device 3702 and theconferencing endpoint 3710 can communicate with one or more remoteservers via the communication network 2417.

The user's portable electronic device 3702 can comprise any portableelectronic device known in the art, including but not limited to alaptop computer, a smartphone, a tablet, or the like. Portableelectronic device 3702 can comprise similar construction as portableelectronic device 13 shown in FIG. 2 and described above. Portableelectronic device 3702 may comprise one or more software applications,including an enterprise meeting application 2600, discussed above, forenabling users to pair with one or more meeting room devices, such asthe conferencing endpoint 3710. The enterprise meeting application 2600can comprise a conferencing application 3801, discussed below withreference to FIG. 38, for enabling users to initiate conference callsvia the conferencing endpoint 3710. The conferencing application 3801can be a stand-alone application, or it can be a module of theenterprise meeting application 2600.

Beacon 3704 communicates with the portable electronic device 3702 viashort-range communication 3711, which can comprise any short-rangecommunication standard known in the art, such as Bluetooth Low Energycommunication standard, NFC communication standard, or other short-rangecommunication standards known in the art or later discovered. Beacon3704 is encoded with various information, which it periodicallybroadcasts for enabling one or more portable electronic devices 3702 tobe paired with the conferencing endpoint 3710. Like beacon 2404 shown inFIG. 25, beacon 3704 can be encoded with one or more of an applicationidentifier 2501, a beacon ID 2502, one or more meeting room devicesnetwork addresses 2503, an enterprise server network address 2504, andany combinations thereof. As discussed above, the meeting room devicenetwork address 2503 identifies the particular meeting room deviceassociated with the beacon 3704 and located within the same meetingroom. The meeting room device network address 2503 may comprise an IPaddress, a URI address, a URL address, a host name, or the like, or anycombination thereof. The meeting room device network address 2503 maycomprise a conferencing endpoint network address that identifies theparticular conferencing endpoint 3710 associated with the beacon 3704.In various aspects of the embodiments, beacon 3704 can be encoded withall the information shown in FIG. 25, it may comprise only some of theinformation, such as the application identifier 2501 and the beacon ID2502, or it can be encoded with additional information, such as networkaddresses of other equipment in room 3701.

Referring back to FIG. 37, after pairing, portable electronic device3702 can wirelessly communicate with the conferencing endpoint 3710 viaa wireless local area network (WLAN) 2408 to initiate a conference call.In one embodiment, the conferencing endpoint 3710 can comprise awireless network access point such that portable electronic device 3702can directly connect to the conferencing endpoint 3710. According anembodiment, the conferencing endpoint 3710 can comprise a network accesspoint and a built-in web server associated with a unique URL address. Inanother embodiment, portable electronic device 3702 can connect to theconferencing endpoint 3710 via a local area network comprising one ormore wireless gateway devices, such as routers, hubs, gateways, or thelike. In another embodiment, instead of communicating directly with theconferencing endpoint 3710, the portable electronic device 3702communicating with the conferencing endpoint 3710 through one or more ofthe enterprise server 2412, a central control processor, such as an AVcontrol system processor 40 (FIG. 1 and FIG. 18), or other centralmanagement systems.

The conferencing application 3801 on the user's portable electronicdevice 3702 transmits conferencing information extracted from the user'scalendar to the conferencing endpoint 3710. The conferencing endpoint3710 uses the conferencing information to dial the conference call. Theuser can participate in the conference call using display screen 3706,speaker 3712, and camera and microphone 3714 equipped in the meetingroom 3701. The user can view the status of and control the conferencingendpoint 3710 via the user's portable electronic device 3702. Theconferencing endpoint 3710 can comprise similar configuration to theCrestron RL® 2 Group Collaboration System for Lync®, Integrator KitCCS-UC-200 available from Crestron Electronics, Inc. of Rockleigh, N.J.

Referring to FIG. 38, an embodiment of the enterprise meetingapplication 2600 incorporating a conferencing application 3801 is shown.As discussed above, the conferencing application 3801 may be astandalone application, or it may be a module of the enterprise meetingapplication 2600 containing various application modules 2602, such asthe scheduling application 20 shown in FIG. 4 and the presentationapplication 2601 shown in FIG. 26, for performing various meeting roomfunctions. Enterprise meeting application 2600 may further comprise oneor more engines and data storage areas shown in FIG. 4 and describedabove. The conferencing application 3801 comprises one or more of acalendar accessing and conferencing information retrieving engine 3810and a conferencing endpoint control engine 3812. The calendar accessingand conferencing information retrieving engine 3810 accesses thecalendar of the user to retrieve meeting information, including theconferencing information. The conferencing endpoint control engine 3812is configured for allowing the user's portable electronic device 3702 tosend one or more commands to control the operation of the conferencingendpoint 3710. The functions of the various engines of the conferencingapplication 3801 are described in greater detail below.

FIG. 39 is a flowchart 3900 showing the method for initiating aconference call using the conferencing application 3801 on the portableelectronic device 3702 via one or more beacons 3704 according to anillustrative embodiment. In step 3902, a user positions the portableelectronic device 3702 in communication range with a beacon 3704. Theuser may position the portable electronic device 3702 by walking withinthe meeting room 3701 while carrying the portable electronic device3702.

In step 3904, the user loads the enterprise meeting application 2600,which instructs the portable electronic device 3702 to scan for anynearby beacons 3704. In step 3906, the portable electronic device 3702pairs with the conferencing endpoint 3710 via one or more beacon 3704present within meeting room 3701. The pairing can be accomplished usingany of the methods described above.

According to one embodiment, system 3700 can comprises a standalone orsemi-standalone system which operates without or with minimalinteractivity with a central management server, a system processor, suchas system processor 40 or 42, or remote servers, such as the enterpriseserver 2412. Such implementation is useful in a small scale applicationwhere the use of a central management is impractical or undesired. Thesystem 3700 can comprise one or more conferencing endpoints 3710 anddedicated beacons 3704 strategically dispersed throughout a building ora floor. Each conferencing endpoint 3710 can be associated with one ormore dedicated beacons which store the network address of theconferencing endpoint 3710, such as an IP address, a URI address, a URLaddress, a host name, or the like. In one embodiment, one or morededicated beacons are placed within the same meeting room as theconferencing endpoint 3710. In another embodiment, a dedicated beaconcan be integrated within the conferencing endpoint 3710. The dedicatedbeacon 3704 broadcasts an application ID and the network address of theconferencing endpoint 3710. The enterprise meeting application 2600 usesthe network address to connect the portable communication device 3702 tothe appropriate conferencing endpoint 3710. The user's portableelectronic device 3702 can be paired directly with the conferencingendpoint 3710 following the method steps described above with relationto FIG. 27. The enterprise meeting application 2600 can be automaticallyloaded on the portable electronic device 3702 once the portableelectronic device 3702 comes in communication proximity with a beacon3704 following the steps shown in FIG. 28.

According to another embodiment, conferencing system 3700 can beintegrated Into an enterprise-wide system, such as system 100 shown inFIG. 18, and can be connected to the enterprise server 2412, such asscheduling server 15 described above. Conferencing system 3700 mayfurther comprise additional servers, including a calendar server 2416for receiving a user's calendar information. Calendar server 2416 can beintegrated with the enterprise server 2412. Such an implementation isuseful in large-scale enterprise control. As discussed above, theenterprise server 2412 stores room information or record associated witheach conference room, such as meeting room 3701. In addition to theabove information, such room data may include information that the roomis equipped with conferencing endpoint 3710, display 3706, speaker 3712,and camera and microphone 3714, as well as the network address of theconferencing endpoint 3710.

In such an implementation, the beacon 3704 may broadcast an applicationidentifier and its beacon ID. Upon identifying the closest beacon, suchas beacon 3704, the enterprise meeting application 2600 on the portableelectronic device 3702 receives from the beacon 3704 the applicationidentifier and its beacon ID. The enterprise meeting application 2600receiving the beacon ID would use the beacon ID to identify the networkaddress of the conferencing endpoint 3710 by either querying theenterprise server 2412 or an internally stored enterprise room file, asdiscussed above. The user's portable electronic device 3702 can beauthenticated and paired with the conferencing endpoint 3710 via one ormore beacons 3704 and the enterprise server 2412 following the methodsteps described above with relation to FIG. 29. As discussed above, theenterprise server 2412 may store access rights information for eachmeeting room that identifies a list of users that have access rights touse the room and its resources, as well as the scope of the accessrights. A user may have limited or no access to certain areas orresources based on time of day, priority, employment level or a myriadof other factors. For example, only authenticated users can initiateconference calls using the available resources located within themeeting room 3701 and only during the scheduled meeting time period.

After successful pairing, in step 3908, the conferencing application3801 of the enterprise meeting application 2600 on the user's portableelectronic device 3702 can access a scheduled meeting event on theuser's calendar containing conferencing information embedded therein.The conferencing application 3801 can communicate with a local calendarutility or application available on the user's portable electronicdevice 3702 to access the user's calendar information. Alternatively,the conferencing application 3801 can communicate via a web-basedcalendaring application with a remote calendar server 2416 to accessuser's calendar information. User's calendar can be linked to theconferencing application 3801 during its setup or registration process.An example of a calendaring application includes a Microsoft Outlook®calendar application, which can be a standalone application, or can workwith a remote calendar server 2416, such as the Microsoft ExchangeServer.

The scheduled meeting event on the user's calendar can be a meetingevent created by the user or a meeting event received by the user fromother users. The user can create a meeting event using the calendaringapplication ahead of the meeting for a particular scheduled period oftime and enter meeting information in the meeting event. The meetinginformation is entered in various fields of the calendaring applicationas is known in the art. These fields may include meeting organizer,meeting attendees, subject, title, description, location, date, starttime, end time, meeting body, notes, attachment, contacts, conferencinginformation, or the like. For example, using these fields the user caninvite meeting attendees, describe the subject of the meeting, choosedate and time of the meeting, list the meeting agenda, and include orattach other meeting information. Additionally, the user can enterconferencing information in the conferencing information field or in anyother field of the meeting event, such as the location field or the bodyfield. The conferencing information is saved in association with themeeting event either on the user's portable electronic device 3702 or onthe calendar server 2416. Conferencing information may include aconference number and code, such as an audio conference bridge numberand passcode; a phone number; an Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or ausername of the voice over IP system; a uniform resource locator (URL)for a particular meeting that provides access to a particular meetingvia a web server, such as a URL address for Microsoft Lync system;network communication protocols, and Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)scheme for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), or the like.Conferencing information may further include a unique ID for a virtualmeeting room (VMR). A virtual meeting room, also called a virtualmeeting space, is a service that provides means to collaborate via videoor audio-only in real time over the Internet via a web browser orsoftware application hosted on a service provider's server. The virtualmeeting room ID is sent by the organizer to meeting attendees to loginto the same meeting from various geographical locations.

Upon arriving to the meeting room 3701, the enterprise meetingapplication 2600 can pair the user's portable electronic device 3702with the conferencing endpoint 3710 as discussed above. The conferencingapplication 3801 can access the user's calendar and identify meetingevents that have conferencing information embedded in them. Theconferencing application 3801 can display on the user's portableelectronic device 3702 a list of potential meeting events to call. Theuser can select an event to dial. In another embodiment, theconferencing application 3801 can automatically select a scheduledmeeting event to dial from the user's calendar based on the date andtime of day.

After a meeting event is selected, either automatically or manually, instep 3910, the conferencing application 3801 retrieves the conferencinginformation embedded in the meeting event. The conferencing application3801 can scan the fields of the calendar meeting event usingpredetermined regular expression (REGEX) search pattern strings todetermine if there is any conferencing information listed in any of thefields. As discussed above, conferencing information can take a numberof different forms. For example, the conferencing application 3801 canparse a dialing string from a meeting event body.

In step 3912, the conferencing application 3801 selects conferencinginformation of a connection type supported by the conferencing endpoint.The conferencing application 3801 may determine the connection typesupported by the conferencing endpoint 3710 by identifying the type ofconferencing endpoint 3710 it is connected to, for example, by a modelor serial number. The connection type or the type of conferencingendpoint 3710 may be communicated by the conferencing endpoint 3710. Inanother embodiment, the connection type or the type of conferencingendpoint 3710 may be stored in the room record for room 3701, either onthe portable electronic device 3702, the enterprise server 2412, orboth. If the conferencing information contains more than one connectiontype, the conferencing application 3801 identifies and selectsconferencing information that corresponds with the connection typesupported by the conferencing endpoint 3710. If the conferencinginformation does not contain conferencing information for the connectiontype supported by the conferencing endpoint 3710, the conferencingapplication 3801 may display an error message with instructions on howto dial the conference call using the conferencing endpoint 3710 inmeeting room 3701.

For example, the conferencing endpoint 3710 may only providecapabilities for standard telephone dialing. The conferencinginformation retrieved from the scheduled meeting event may contain aLync URL address, a SIP URI, and a conventional telephone number. Uponidentifying that the conferencing endpoint 3710 only contains standardtelephone dialing capabilities, the conferencing application 3801 wouldselect the conventional telephone number. These steps may be transparentto the end-user and solve the problem of a non-technical user needing tonavigate the multiple connection types that are frequently included inscheduled meeting events.

In another embodiment, if the conferencing endpoint 3710 can supportmultiple connection types, and the retrieved conferencing informationcontains conferencing information for multiple connection types, theconferencing application 3801 may select conferencing information of thebest connection type. The conferencing application 3801 may select thebest connection type based on connection speed. In another embodiment,the conferencing application 3801 may select the best connection typebased on a stored ranking table, either a predetermined ranking table orone ranked by the user.

In step 3914, the conferencing application 3801 sends the selectedconferencing information to the conferencing endpoint 3710 via the localarea network 2408. The conferencing endpoint 3710 receives theconferencing information and uses it to dial the conference call.

It should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that thesteps of the aforementioned method may be performed in a different orderand that some steps may be eliminated or substituted. For example, theconferencing application 3801 may identify the connection type supportedby the conferencing endpoint 3710 before step 3910. Then in step 3910,the conferencing application 3801 may scan the fields of the calendarmeeting event and retrieve only conferencing information of theconnection type supported by the conferencing endpoint 3710.

FIG. 40 is a schematic diagram depicting an exemplary access room page3300 of an enterprise meeting application 2600 incorporating ascheduling application 20, the presentation application 2601, and theconferencing application 3801. Access room page 3300 can be accessedmanually by pressing the “access room” icon 502 shown in FIG. 5. Inanother embodiment, upon positioning the portable electronic device 3702within beacon proximity, the portable electronic device 3702 can loadthe enterprise meeting application 2600 and display the access room page3300. The enterprise meeting application 2600 may display a “book space”icon 3301 for managing a conference room schedule via schedulingapplication 20. The enterprise meeting application 2600 may furtherdisplay a “present” icon 3302 and a “view” icon 3303 for presenting andviewing presentation content via the presentation application 2601. Theenterprise meeting application 2600 may further display a “dial call”icon 4001 for initiating a conference call via conferencing application3801. Pressing the “dial call” icon 4001 will launch the conferencingapplication 3801, which in turn will access meeting events and retrieveconferencing information.

FIG. 41 is a schematic diagram depicting a select meeting to dial page4100 of the conferencing application 3801, which can be accessed afterthe user pressed the “dial call” icon 4001 (FIG. 40). The scheduledmeeting events that are on the user's calendar for the current day canbe displayed in chronological order. Each item can show some meetinginformation extracted from the calendaring application that identifiesthe meeting event, such as the meeting start time and subject. Each itemcan also display a selectable icon identifying the type of connectionmechanism, such as video 4104 or audio 4106, that can be used to dialthe meeting. The type of connection mechanism can be determined byidentifying the type of conferencing information listed in the meetingevent. If no conferencing information is found for a meeting event, suchas for item 4108, the meeting event can be listed without a selectableicon. In another embodiment, the user can press the meeting event 4108to enter conferencing information. When the user selects a conferencecall the user wishes to dial, the conferencing application 3801 willnavigate to the conference call page 4200 in FIG. 42.

FIG. 42 is a schematic diagram depicting a conference call page 4200 ofthe conferencing application 3801, which can be accessed after the userselects a meeting to dial in the select meeting to dial page 4100 ofFIG. 41. The conferencing application 3801 can display “meeting subject”information 4202 listing the subject of the meeting event accessed bythe conferencing application 3801, which can be extracted from thesubject field in the meeting event. The conferencing application 3801can contain call status information 4204. While the conferencingendpoint 3710 is dialing and connecting the conference call, the callstatus information 4204 can display “Dialing”. When the call isestablished and during the pendency of the call, the call statusinformation 4204 can display a counter showing in minutes:seconds thetime of the call. The call status information 4204 can be communicatedto the conferencing application 3801 by the conferencing endpoint 3710.

The conferencing application 3801 can further display a “volume” control4206 and a “mute” control 4208. Pressing these will send commands by theconferencing application 3801 to the conferencing endpoint 3710 tocontrol its volume state. The conferencing application 3801 can furtherdisplay a call control button 4210. The call control button 4210 willdisplay “Dial” when no call is in progress. Pressing the “dial” button4210 will cause the conferencing application 3800 to send theconferencing information of the selected meeting event to theconferencing gateway 3710 to dial and start the conference call. Duringthe pendency of the conference call, the call control button 4210 willdisplay “End Call”. Pressing the “end call” button 4210 while the callis in progress will send a “hang-up” command to the conferencing gateway3710 to end the conference call. When the conferencing gateway 3710reports that the call has been ended, the enterprise meeting application2600 will navigate to “access room” screen 3300 (FIG. 40).

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

To solve the aforementioned problems, the aspects of the disclosedembodiments are directed towards systems, methods, and modes for livepresentation sharing between meeting presenter's and meeting attendees'portable electronic devices during a meeting. It should be understoodthat this description is not intended to limit the embodiments. On thecontrary, the embodiments are intended to cover alternatives,modifications, and equivalents, which are included in the spirit andscope of the embodiments as defined by the appended claims. Further, inthe detailed description of the embodiments, numerous specific detailsare set forth to provide a comprehensive understanding of the claimedembodiments. However, one skilled in the art would understand thatvarious embodiments may be practiced without such specific details.

Although the features and elements of aspects of the embodiments aredescribed being in particular combinations, each feature or element canbe used alone, without the other features and elements of theembodiments, or in various combinations with or without other featuresand elements disclosed herein.

This written description uses examples of the subject matter disclosedto enable any person skilled in the art to practice the same, includingmaking and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporatedmethods. The patentable scope of the subject matter is defined by theclaims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled inthe art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of theclaims.

The above-described embodiments are intended to be illustrative in allrespects, rather than restrictive, of the embodiments. Thus theembodiments are capable of many variations in detailed implementationthat can be derived from the description contained herein by a personskilled in the art. No element, act, or instruction used in thedescription of the present application should be construed as criticalor essential to the embodiments unless explicitly described as such.Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or moreitems.

In addition, the above disclosed methods are not meant to limit theaspects of the embodiments, or to suggest that the aspects of theembodiments should be implemented following the aforementioned methods.The purpose of the aforementioned methods is to facilitate theunderstanding of one or more aspects of the embodiments and to providethe reader with one or many possible implementations of the processeddiscussed herein. It should be understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art that the steps of the aforementioned methods may be performed ina different order and that some steps may be eliminated or substituted.

All United States patents and applications, foreign patents, andpublications discussed above are hereby incorporated herein by referencein their entireties.

ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS

Alternate embodiments may be devised without departing from the spiritor the scope of the invention. For example, the NFC tag 11 may encode auniform resource locator (URL) address directing the portable electronicdevice to a location for downloading the scheduling application 20.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for initiating a conference call on aconferencing endpoint from a portable electronic device comprising: aconferencing endpoint associated with a network address and configuredfor receiving conferencing information and using said conferencinginformation to dial a conference call; a portable electronic deviceassociated with a user ID and comprising a network interface configuredfor enabling communication between the portable electronic device andthe conferencing endpoint, a display, a memory encoding one or moreprocessor-executable instructions, and a processor configured to loadthe one or more processor-executable instructions, which when executedby the processor, cause acts to be performed comprising: pairing withthe conferencing endpoint using the conferencing endpoint networkaddress, accessing a calendar application, accessing a scheduled meetingevent associated with the calendar application, retrieving conferencinginformation associated with the scheduled meeting event, andtransmitting the conferencing information to the conferencing endpoint.2. The system of claim 1, wherein the conference call comprises audio,video, or a combination thereof.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein theconferencing information comprises at least one selected from the groupconsisting of an audio conference bridge number, a passcode, a phonenumber, an IP address, a username of a voice over IP system, a meetingURL, a network communication protocol, a SIP URI, an ID for a VMR, orany combinations thereof.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein theconferencing information is retrieved from the scheduled meeting eventby: scanning data fields of the scheduled meeting event.
 5. The systemof claim 4, wherein the data fields are scanned using predeterminedregular expression (REGEX) search pattern strings.
 6. The system ofclaim 4, wherein the data fields comprise at least one selected from thegroup consisting of a meeting organizer field, a meeting attendeesfield, a subject field, a title, a description, a location field, a datefield, a start time field, an end time field, a meeting body field, anotes field, an attachment field, a contacts field, and a conferencinginformation field.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the accessedscheduled meeting event is stored on the portable electronic device oron a remote server.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or moreprocessor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performedcomprising: selecting the scheduled meeting event.
 9. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the scheduled meeting event is selected by: identifyinga scheduled meeting event that corresponds to a current date and time ofday.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein the scheduled meeting event isselected by: displaying a user interface comprising a list of scheduledmeeting events and a meeting event selection configured for receiving aselection of a scheduled meeting event.
 11. The system of claim 10,wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions cause furtheracts to be performed comprising: retrieving conferencing informationassociated with each scheduled meeting event in the list of scheduledmeeting events, identifying connection types for the retrievedconferencing information of the list of scheduled meeting events, andfor each scheduled meeting event in the list of scheduled meetingevents, displaying an icon configured for identifying the identifiedconnection type.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or moreprocessor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performedcomprising: selecting the conferencing information.
 13. The system ofclaim 12, wherein the conferencing information is selected by:identifying a connection type supported by the conferencing endpoint;and selecting the conferencing information that corresponds to theconnection type supported by the conferencing endpoint.
 14. The systemof claim 13, wherein when a plurality of connection types are identifiedsupported by the conferencing endpoint, and wherein when theconferencing information comprises conferencing information for multipleconnection types, the conferencing information is selected with afastest connection speed.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein when aplurality of connection types are identified supported by theconferencing endpoint, and wherein when the conferencing informationcomprises conferencing information for multiple connection types, theconferencing information is selected based on a stored ranking table.16. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processor-executableinstructions cause further acts to be performed comprising: receivingcall status information from the conferencing endpoint, and displaying auser interface on the display of the portable electronic devicecomprising the call status information.
 17. The system of claim 1,wherein the one or more processor-executable instructions cause furtheracts to be performed comprising: transmitting a control command to theconferencing endpoint configured for controlling an operation of theconferencing endpoint.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the controlcommand comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of astart conference call command, an end conference call command, a volumecommand, and a mute command.
 19. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising: one or more RF beacons each associated with a conferencingendpoint and configured for broadcasting information comprising anapplication identifier; wherein the portable electronic device is pairedwith the conferencing endpoint by: receiving from at least one of theone or more RF beacons the broadcasted information including theapplication identifier, transmitting the broadcasted information to anapplication associated with the application identifier, estimating adistance to the at least one of the one or more RF beacons according toa detected signal strength of the RF beacon broadcast, determining alocation of the portable electronic device based on the distance to theat least one of the one or more RF beacons, identifying the conferencingendpoint network address based on the determined location, and pairingwith the conferencing endpoint using the identified conferencingendpoint network address.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein thebroadcasted information of each of the one or more RF beacons comprisesa network address of the conferencing endpoint associated with arespective RF beacon.
 21. The system of claim 20, wherein the locationof the portable electronic device is determined by identifying a nearestRF beacon by comparing the detected signal strengths of the at least oneof the one or more RF beacons and identifying the strongest receivedsignal, and wherein the conferencing endpoint network address isidentified by identifying the conferencing endpoint network addressreceived from the nearest RF beacon.
 22. The system of claim 19, whereinthe broadcasted information of each of the one or more RF beaconscomprises a beacon ID, wherein each beacon ID is associated with aconferencing endpoint network address.
 23. The system of claim 22,wherein the location of the portable electronic device is determined byidentifying a nearest RF beacon by comparing the detected signalstrengths of the at least one of the one or more RF beacons andidentifying the strongest received signal, and wherein the conferencingendpoint network address is identified by identifying the conferencingendpoint network address associated with a beacon ID received from thenearest RF beacon.
 24. The system of claim 23, wherein the associationbetween each beacon ID and conferencing endpoint network address isstored in the memory of the portable electronic device.
 25. The systemof claim 23, wherein the association between each beacon ID andconferencing endpoint network address is stored on a remote server, andwherein the conferencing endpoint network address is identified byquerying the remote server with a beacon ID received from the nearest RFbeacon to identify an associated network address of a conferencingendpoint.
 26. The system of claim 19, wherein when the portableelectronic device receives broadcasted information from only a single RFbeacon, the portable electronic device pairs with a conferencingendpoint associated with the single RF beacon.
 27. The system of claim19, wherein the location of the portable electronic device is determinedvia trilateration.
 28. The system of claim 19, wherein the location ofthe portable electronic device is determined by: determining locationcoordinates of the portable electronic device via trilateration, mappingthe location coordinates on a floor plan, and identifying an area inwhich the portable electronic device is located.
 29. The system of claim28, wherein the floor plan is stored in the memory of the portableelectronic device or a remote server.
 30. The system of claim 28,further comprising one or more area records each associated with an areaand comprising a network address of a conferencing endpoint installed inthe area.
 31. The system of claim 30, wherein the one or more arearecords are stored in the memory of the portable electronic device or aremote server.
 32. The system of claim 19, wherein the one or moreprocessor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performedcomprising: receiving from a remote server a schedule of the determinedlocation of the portable electronic device, identifying a scheduledmeeting event that corresponds to a current date and time of day,accessing a list of meeting participants for the identified scheduledmeeting event, determining whether the user ID matches a user ID in thelist of meeting participants, upon finding a match, pairing the portableelectronic device with the conferencing endpoint, and upon not finding amatch, preventing the portable electronic device to pair with theconferencing endpoint.
 33. The system of claim 19, wherein the one ormore processor-executable instructions cause further acts to beperformed comprising: receiving from a remote server a schedule of thedetermined location of the portable electronic device; when a statusindicator for the location is vacant for a current date and time of day,designating the status indicator for the location as booked afterpairing the portable electronic device with the conferencing endpoint.34. The system of claim 33, wherein the one or more processor-executableinstructions cause further acts to be performed comprising: prompting auser to indicate a length of time period the user wishes to use thelocation.
 35. The system of claim 19, wherein each conferencing endpointnetwork address comprises at least one selected from the groupconsisting of an IP address, an URI address, an URL address, a hostname, and any combination thereof.
 36. The system of claim 19, whereineach of the one or more RF beacons is configured for broadcasting theinformation according to at least one of a Bluetooth protocol, and anNFC protocol.
 37. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or moreprocessor-executable instructions cause further acts to be performedcomprising: determining an access level of the user ID to the pairedconferencing endpoint, wherein the access level comprises rules thatrestrict communication between the portable electronic device and thepaired conferencing endpoint.
 38. The system of claim 1, wherein theportable electronic device comprises at least one selected from thegroup consisting of a laptop computer, a smartphone, and a tablet.
 39. Asystem for initiating a conference call on a conferencing endpoint froma portable electronic device comprising: a conferencing endpointassociated with a network address and configured for receivingconferencing information and using said conferencing information to diala conference call; one or more RF beacons each associated with aconferencing endpoint and configured for broadcasting informationcomprising an application identifier; a portable electronic deviceassociated with a user ID and comprising at least one network interfaceconfigured for enabling communication between the portable electronicdevice and the one or more RF beacons and between the portableelectronic device and the conferencing endpoint, a display, a memoryencoding one or more processor-executable instructions, and a processorconfigured to load the one or more processor-executable instructions,which when executed by the processor, cause acts to be performedcomprising: receiving from at least one of the one or more RF beaconsthe broadcasted information including the application identifier,transmitting the broadcasted information to an application associatedwith the application identifier, estimating a distance to the at leastone of the one or more RF beacons according to a detected signalstrength of the RF beacon broadcast, determining a location of theportable electronic device based on the distance to the at least one ofthe one or more RF beacons, identifying the conferencing endpointnetwork address based on the determined location, pairing with theconferencing endpoint using the conferencing endpoint network address,accessing a calendar application, selecting a scheduled meeting eventassociated with the calendar application, accessing the scheduledmeeting event, scanning data fields of the scheduled meeting event,retrieving conferencing information associated with the scheduledmeeting event, and transmitting the conferencing information to theconferencing endpoint.
 40. A method for initiating a conference call ona conferencing endpoint from a portable electronic device comprising:pairing a portable electronic device with a conferencing endpoint usinga conferencing endpoint network address, accessing a calendarapplication, accessing a scheduled meeting event associated with thecalendar application, retrieving conferencing information associatedwith the scheduled meeting event, and transmitting the conferencinginformation to the conferencing endpoint for dialing a conference call.